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NARRATIVE OF THE EFENTS 



WUICB FOLLOWS!) 



BONAPARTE'S CAMPAIGN IN RUSSIA 



1>OTSC 



PERIOD OF HIS DETHRONEMENT. 



B? WILLIAM DUNLAP. 




HARTPORDi 
VCBLISfiSD BT 0£ORGE SHELDON AftD C9. 

1814. 



DISTRICT OF NEW-YORK, ss. 

BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the thirteenth day of September, in the 
thirty-ninth year of the Independence of the United States of America, Georue 
Sheluon and Co. of the said district, have deposited !« this office the title of a 
book, the right whereof they claim as proprietors, in the nords following, to wit : 

" A Narrative of the Events nihick followed. Bonaparte's Campaign in Russia 
to the period of his dct'ironement. By William Dunlap." 

In conformity to the act of the Congress of the United States, entitled " An act 
for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and 
books to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein men- 
tinned ;" and also to an act, entitled, " An act, suppUmentary to an act, entitled 
an act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, 
and books to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein 
mentioned, and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of designing, engraviitg, 
and etching historical and other prints.'" 

THERON RUDD, 
Clerk of the District of ^"ew-York, 



A NARRATIVE, &c 



At tbe termhiation of' the year i 812, the 
power ol'Napoloon Bona]>aile Imd recci';' 
ex\ the shock from w liieh it never recover- 
ed. Tlie destniclion of human life in that 
niemorable year is unparalleled in the re- 
cords of our globe. The havoc and suffer- 
ing in the south of Europe, though in them- 
selves enormous, are lost, and the uhoie at- 
tention of the observer is occupied by the 
coteiTjporaneous events, so stupendous in 
magnitude and character, so momentousn 
in their consequences, which were passing 
in tbe north. 

We have seen the vanquished emperor 
deserting (he wreck of his mighty host, and 
flying recreant toward his capital ; while 
the victor, from Wilna, on the first day of 
the ensuing year, issues his congratulations 
to his triumphant armies and subjects res- 
cued from a foreign master. But still much 



was to be done; and the events uliicli fob 
Jowed the campaign in Russia are no less 
worthy the pen of the historian and the 
admiration of mankind. Tlic intention of 
the present writer is to give a brief chro- 
nological narrative of the important trans- 
actions in the north of Europe and in 
France, which terminated in tb.e abdication 
of the Frencli Emperor. 

The first public act of INapoleon Bona- 
parte after his return to Paris, is his address 
to the deputies of the legislative body of 
the en}pire. He tells them, with rather a 
greater mixture of truth than the rulers of 
Europe usually display in their commu- 
nications to their subjects and the world, 
that he has met with great reverses of for- 
tune, and sustained severe losses ; he asserts 
that "the French dynasty will reign in 
Spain," and "the Russians re-enter their 
frightful climate :" he announces his satis- 
faction with the conduct of all his allies, 
and his determination to defend them ; he 
calls upon his people to make every sacri- 
fice rather than submit to a bad peace, 
which would cause the loss of" all, even 



of hope ;" and concludes by saying, " I 
have need of great resources to meet the 
expenses which circumstances exact, but 
notwithstanding the different means which 
my minister of finance will propose to you, 
I hope not to impose any new burdens on 
my people." 

While Napoleon was assuring his people 
of his confidence in his allies, those allies 
were taking measures to make their peace 
with the conqueror, and to secure a por- 
tion of the spoil which a continuation of 
the war against France promised. 7'he. 
King of Prussia was the first to reconcile 
himself to Alexander the liberator, who 
cut asunder the bonds which united hitn 
to France, and engaged with the same 
sword to defend him from the vengeance 
of Napoleon. The monarchs of Russia and 
Prussia agreed to unite their late hostile 
legions against their brother of France, 
and the Prussian Ambassador, M. the 
Baron de Krusemarck, made known this 
league, offensive and defensive, to the 
French court on the 27th of March, 1813. 



The Prussian manifesto is long; enunfje 

3* 



k 



rates many subjects of complaint, as is usual 
on these occasions, and concludes with this 
paragraph: " In such a state of lhini>;s, it 
€Ould not long remain doubtful what part 
the king should take. For years past he 
had sacrificed every thing to the preserva- 
tion of his political existence; now France 
herself puts at hazard (his existence, and 
does nothing to protect it. Russia lias the 
power to aggravate his misfortunes, and 
yet generously offers to defend him. The 
king cannot hesitate. Faithful to his prin- 
ciples and his duties, he joins his arms to 
those of the Emperor Alexander, clianging 
his system without changing his object. 
He hopes by breaking with France, and 
attaching himself to Russia, to ol^lain by 
an honourable peace, or by the strength 
of his arms, the sole object of his wishes, 
llie independence of his people, the bene- 
fits wliich result from it, and the inheritance 
of his fathers, the one half of which has 
been wrested from him. The king will 
adhere with all his power to all (he pro- 
positions conformed to the common inte- 
ct'st of the sovereigns of Europe. He ar- 



denlly desires that they may produce a 
vstate of thinc^s in which treaties shall be no 
longer mere truces, in which power may 
become the guarantee of justice, and every 
one, confining himself to his natural rights, 
may be no longer tormented in all the 
points of his existence by the abuse of 
force." 

There is certainly much truth and wis- 
dom in this paragraph, containing a pro- 
found political lesson to rulers and people ; 
and the desires of his Prussian majesty are 
most natural to a little despot like himself, 
surrounded by great ones. 

The Duke of Bassano, on the first of 
April, 1813, answered the Prussian mani- 
festo in a style of bitterness the more 
caustic from its constant recurrence to facts. 
He begins, " Prussia solicited and con- 
cluded an alliance with France in 1812, be- 
cause the French armies were nearer the 
Prussian states than the Russian armies 
weie. Prussia declares, in 1813, that she 
violates her treaties, because the Russian 
armies are nearer her states than tlie French 
armies are ;" and then proceeds to take a 



8 

retrospective Tiew of the fluctuating con- 
duct of the King of Prussia from 1792 to 
the present time, concluding with threats of 
chastisement. 

In the mean time, the then pretender 
to the throne of France, residing at Hart- 
well, in England, with great political wis- 
dom, under the title of Louis XVIII. issued 
an address to " his oppressed subjects." In 
this paper Louis acknowledges his inability, 
and pretends that he has no inclination to 
obtain the throne of France but through 
the wishes of the people. He reiterates 
assurances formerly made, that the adminis- 
trative and judicial bodies shall be main- 
tained ; that those holding places shall re- 
tain them ; that all prosecutions for acts 
committed since the revolution shall be 
prohibited ; that the present code of laws 
shall be continued ; that the present hold- 
ers of lands shall be unmolested ; that the 
orijanization of the army in all its grades 
ahall be maintained, and the conscription 
abolished. 

Bernadotte, who, under the title of 
Crown Prince, is the actual monarch of 



Sweden, tlioiigli elected to this dignity by 
the intrigues of Bonaparte, seems to have 
acted exclusively for the benefit of him- 
self and the people over whom he had be- 
come the ruler. Foreseeing the danger to 
Sweden from the power of Russia, he is 
supposed to have aided Russia secretly, 
by his advice, against France, and it has 
even been asserted that the Russian plan of 
the last great campaign was suggested by 
him ; he, however, in the name of Charles 
XIII. now openly broke terms with hie 
former master, and prepared to march the 
Swedish conscripts (for the French system 
of conscription was fully established in 
Sweden) to the aid of the Russian autocrat. 
By a treaty, signed in the names of the 
kings of Great Britain and Sweden, at 
Stockholm, on the 3d of March, 1813, 
Sweden engages to send thirty thousand 
men under Bernadotte to operate in Ger- 
many against France: England, on her 
part, assenting to the annexation of Norway 
to the crown of Sweden ; Russia having, by 
a previous treaty, agreed to give that coun- 
try, belongingto J3enmark, to Sweden, ancl 



10 

to conquer it for her if necessary. England 
likewise engages to pay Sweden one mil- 
lion steilino-, and give her the Island of 
Guadalouj)C. 

Thus (iie despot of France saw the co- 
alition agaiiif^t him strengthening daily in 
consequence of his Russian defeats and dis- 
asters ; hut he on his part was not Inactive 
in calling forth the mighty resources of the 
great nation over which he ruled with a 
rod of ii'on. The plans adopted by the 
French government put at the disposal of 
the emperor an army of four hundred thou- 
sand men for the Elbe, and two hundred 
thousand on the Rhine, beside filling up the 
armies of Italy nnd bpain. 

The report of the minister of exterior 
relations to the emperor and king, vviien 
speaking of Prussia, say, "the defection 
of General D' Yorck called the enemy into 
the states of the King of Prussia, and com- 
pelled our armies lo evacuate the Vistula 
and proceed t() tiie Oder. Prussia, to dis- 
guise her intentions, ofTered to furnish a 
new contingency. She had in Silesia, and 
on this side the Oder, a sufficient number of 



Jl 

iioops already formed, and of cavalry 
which woidd have been so useful in op- 
posing the light troops of the enemy. But 
she had decided not to keep her promise. 
The king abandoned a residence in which 
he was covered by the Oder to go into an 
open city in order to hail (he approach of 
the enemy. Hardly had he arrived at Bres- 
law, before General Bulow, imitating the 
treason of General D'Yorck, opened his 
lines to the Russian light troops, and facili- 
tated their passage of the Oder. The king 
at length threw off the mask, and by three 
successive ordinances called to arms first 
the young men rich enough to equip them- 
selves, then the whole of the youth from 
seventeen to twenty-four years of age, and 
last the men above that age." 

In fact, the Russian armies had advanced 
wjlh little opposition ; had taken possession 
of Warsaw on the 8th of February, and 
marched as friends into Berlin on the 4th 
of March. The Hanoverians had display- 
ed the British colours, and Hamburg had 
received the Russian troops with acclama- 
tions, and proclaimed its ancient govern- 



12 

uient, under assurances of protection from 
the Emperor Alexander. 

In April the Russian armies had been 
augmented to three hundred and fifty-eight 
thousand men; beside which, Count Tol- 
stoy had crossed the Nienien with reinforce- 
ments of one hundred thousand men, prin- 
cipally Cossacks. The advanced corps 
d^armee of tlie Swedes had arrived on the 
Elbe from Pomerania, and were to be fol- 
lowed by twenty-five thousand men under 
the immediate command of the Crown 
Prince Bernadotte. The Prussian army, 
under the command of the celebrated 
Blucher, had advanced into the vicinity of 
Erfurth. 

On the 5th of April the Russians and 
Prussians, who had so lately met at the 
point of the ba3'onet, and inflicted on each 
other all the miseries of glorious war, were 
arranged in perfect harmony under the or- 
ders of Count Wittgenstein, and opposed 
to the French under the Viceroy of Italy. 
The French corps d^armee was composed of 
four divisions, amounting to about twenty- 
two thousand men ; and had been plundei- 



13 

ing the country around Magdeburg, on the 
right bank of the Elbe. Wittgenstein 
resoJ ved to attack them. He for that pur- 
pose concentrated the corps of Generals 
D'Yorck and Yon Berg near Zerbst, and 
fixed his head quarters at that place. Ge- 
nerals Yon Borstel and Yon Bulow were 
pushed on from Ziesar with orders to at- 
tack the enemy on the 5th when they 
should hear the commencement of the can- 
nonading. On the morning of the 5th 
of April General D'Yorck's corps advan- 
ced to Leitzkau, and General Yon Berg's 
to Ladeberg. General Yon Borstel had ad- 
vanced toward Mockern, and General Yon 
Bulow to Hohenziatz. It was late in the 
afternoon before the van guard of D' Yorck 
came up with the French at Danighow, 
and the different corps of the allies soon 
after commenced their attacks upon Beau- 
harnois' army at every point, and with a 
great superiority of numbers. The French 
fought with their usual valour until dark, 
and then retreated, with a loss of near two 
thousand men killed and wounded. Witt- 
2 



14 

i^enstein by this victory supposed that he 
had prevented an attempt upon Berlin. 

About this time (April 3d) the Emperor 
of Russia, in a proclamation addressed to 
the Germans, and signed *' Prince Koutusoff 
Smolensk," declares the intention of Russia 
and Prussia to reduce France to her an- 
cient limits, and restore liberty and inde- 
pendence to the princes and nations of 
Germany. 

The Emperor Napoleon having appoint- 
ed his consort Regent of France, and made 
every other necessary disposition for what 
he would call the security and glory of the 
empire, left Paris to take command of the 
numerous hosts which, as if by supernatural 
power, had been assembled and arrayed in 
hostile opposition to the late conquerors of 
the armies of France, Austria, and Prussia. 
On the 24th of April Napoleon left May- 
ence. Upon his joining the army every 
thing announced his intention to act on the 
offensive. In consequence of these appear- 
ances the combined Russian and Prussian 
armies had been united between Leipsic 
and Aitenburg, a position highly advanta- 
geous in all cases either of attack or de- 



15 

fence. The French, having concentrated 
their forces, were debouching by Merseburg 
and Weissenfeis, at the same time that a 
considerable corps under Lauriston was 
sent on toward Leipsic, which appeared to 
be the main object of operation ; this move- 
ment determined Count Wittgenstein to 
uiake the attack when it would be out of 
the power of Lauriston's corps to cooperate 
with the main army. 

Marshal Prince Koutusoff Smolensk had 
been left ill on the march at Buntzleau, 
where he died; but his death was not pub- 
lished. Count Wittgenstein, who had vir- 
tually commanded the allied forces, was 
now appointed commander in chief. The 
battle of the 2d May commenced by the at- 
tack of Beauharnois upon the village of 
Listenau, and the bridges in front of Leip- 
sic. While Napoleon was waiting the re- 
sult of this attack with the intention to 
move on Leipsic, Wittgenstein, following 
his plan of operations, attacked the centre 
of the French army at the village of Gross- 
Gorchen. Generals D'Yorck and Blucher 
commanded this attack, which appears to 



16 

have been unexpected by the Fiencb, and 
made with an overwhehning force. The 
battle became general, but was hottest at 
the central point, the village of Gross-Gor- 
chen, wliich was taken and re-taken, at the 
point of the bayonet, six several times with 
immense slaughter. The French centre, 
repeatedly broken, was at length supported 
by the troops which had moved on Leipsic, 
who made an attack on the right of the al- 
lies which was irresistible. To oppose this 
corps, the whole cavalry of the allied ar- 
my were ordered from the left, where they 
had been employed with alternate success 
and repulse in charges upon the French 
columns of infantry, and were intended 
for a combined charge upon the French 
left: great expectations were raised ofcom- 
plete success from this manoeuvre, but dark- 
ness intervened before the cavalry could be 
brought into action. The next morning 
the allies were prepared to renew the 
battle, but the French were already in 
march toward Leipsic, the object of their 
first movements, and the allies did not deem 
it expedient to follow them. As far as can 



IT 

be judged from the statements of both par- 
ties, twenty thousand men were killed and 
wounded on this day of slaughter, and each 
party announced a glorious victory obtain- 
ed by himself. The sequel, how ever, proves 
that the advantage was with the French : 
the allies occupied the point of their attack, 
and their adversary possessed and moved 
forward upon his ; the loss on each side was 
probably about equal. This battle has 
been denominated the battle of Lutzen. 

On the 6th of May, General Wittgen- 
stein had placed his army between the Elbe 
and the Elster, with the command of seve- 
ral of the bridges over the Elbe. 

Hamburgh, notwithstanding the power 
and the assurances of protection made by 
her Russian deliverer, was again doomed 
to experience the miseries of foreign domi- 
nation. A body of Swedish forces had been 
thrown into the city for its defence, but up- 
on the approach of an army of Danes and 
French under General Bruyere, the Swedes 
retired, and the city again became sub- 
ject to the French despot. The city was 
laid under a contribution of forty-eight 



IB 

millions of francs, among other modes of 
punishment for having rejoiced at its liber- 
ation from its gracious master, and for 
having taken measures to insure its free- 
dom. 

The allied armies, after the battle of 
Lutzen, appear to have made successive re- 
trograde movements, until they had chosen 
an exceedingly strong position in advance 
of Wurtchen and Hochldrk, a place cele- 
brated in the history of the seven years 
war, where Ihey concentrated a force of 
from one hundred and fifty to one hundred 
and sixty thousand men, and strengthened 
themselves by every means which the art 
of defence could suggest. 

On the 10th of May the French army 
passed the Elbe. On the 1 5th it took up 
its position in front of the allies at Bautzen. 
On the 19th the French emperor arrived 
from Dresden at his camp near Bautzen, 
and immediately reconnoitered the enemy's 
position, and formed his plan of attack. 

On this same day a corps of the French 
under Lauriston, which was advancing to 
join the main army, were met and partially 



19 

defeated by the corps of D'Yorck and 
Barclay de Tolly. The allies claimed a 
victory with the acquisition of ten pieces of 
cannon and one thousand five hundred 
prisoners ; but the affair does not appear 
to have been sufficient to disconcert Bona- 
parte's intended attack upon the lines of 
the allied armies, which took place on the 
morning of the 20th. 

The right of the allied armies was sup- 
ported by mountains covered by woods. 
Bautzen contained their centre ; this town 
having been covered with redoubts. The 
left of the allies leaned upon forlified ris- 
m^ grounds which defended the debouches 
from the river Spree. All their front was 
covered by the Spree. They had a second 
fortified position in the rear of the first ; 
the left in front of the village of Hochkirk, 
the centre covered by three intrenched vil- 
lages and some marshes; and their right 
by rising grounds and intrenchments. 

Marshal Oudinot, Duke of Reggio, com- 
manded the right of the French army, 
leaning upon the mountains to the left of 
the Spree, and separated from the left of 



20 

the allies by a valley and the river ; Mar- 
shal M'Donald, Duke of Tarentura, com- 
manded before Bautzen on the Dresden 
road ; Marshal Marmont, Duke of Ragusa, 
was upon the left of Bautzen, opposite the 
village of Niemenschutz : to the left of 
Marmont, General Bertrand commanded 
a corps intended to debouche from Jaselitz 
upon the right of the allies. Marshal Ney, 
Prince of Moskwa, General Lauriston, 
and General Regnier, were at Hoyerswer- 
da, thrown out of the line, into the rear of 
the French army by the battle of the 1 9th. 
From the heights near Bautzen, Napo- 
leon directed the battle. He ordered Oudi- 
not to pass the Spree and attack the moun- 
tains which supported the left of the allies. 
Marshal M'Donald was directed to throw 
a bridge over the Spree between Bautzen 
and the mountains. Marmont was order- 
ed to throw another over a turn which that 
river takes to the left of Bautzen. Marshal 
Soult, Duke of Dalmatia, to whom the C(m> 
mand of the centre Avas given, had orders 
to pass the Spree and attack the right of 
the combined armies ; whilst Ney, Lauris- 



21 



ton, and Re^nier were ordei'ed to push for- 
ward on Klix, pass the Spree, turn the right 
of the allies, and establish themselves from 
Wurtchen to Weissenburg. 

About noon on the 20th the battle began 
by cannonading. Marshals McDonald and 
Marmont crossed the Spree, and the latter, 
after a severe contest, gained possession of 
the heights and works opposed to him. A 
French division under general Compans, 
after a severe struggle of six hours, gained 
the occupation of Bautzen. At seven in 
the evening the French had gained several 
points of the first position of the allies, and 
with advantages which more than compen- 
sated in a hero's mind the immense loss 
of men, stood ready to renew the attack on 
the return of day. At five in the morning 
of the 21st the Emperor of the French, hav- 
ing taken his stand on the heights in ad- 
vance of Bautzen, Marshals Oudinot and 
McDonald were directed to attack the left 
of the allies, and by keeping up a contin- 
ued discharge of cannon and musketry 
thereby hide the real point of attack. 
Marshal Mortier, Duke of Treviso, kept 



2-2 

up a cannonade in front of the centre of 
the allies; while Ney, who had in the nia- 
ncEiivres of the preceding day been sepa- 
rated from the main army by a part of 
the right of the allies, now attacked and 
beat his opponents at the village of Klix» 
and advanced fighting to Preiletz. This 
village was carried by his troops ; but the 
reserve of the allies advancing, the French 
were beaten back ao-ain with slaughter. 
About noon Marshal Soult, who led the 
centre, debouched; but Count Wittgenstein 
directing his greatest efforts against this 
point, repulsed the attack of the centre of 
the French with loss. At this moment Bo- 
naparte led the guards, the divisions of 
Maubourg, and a powerful artillery, to the 
attack of the right of the allies commanded 
by the veteran Blucher, and by this move- 
ment decided the bloody contest in fa- 
vour of the French arms. The allies were 
obliged to uncover their right to meet 
this new attack, and Marshal Ney, taking 
advantage of the circumstance, regained 
the ground he had lost, carried by assault 
the village of Preisig, and pushed on ta 



23 

^Urtcher. Bonaparte having turned the 
right of the allies, they were obliged to 
retreat, and left the field of battle covered 
with the mingled wounded, dying, and 
dead, in the possession of the French 
army. During the whole night the allied 
armies continued their retreat, and by four 
o'clock in the morning of the 22d the 
French commenced the pursuit. 

The allies made a stand at Reichen- 
bach, and were again attacked, and again 
obliged to retreat. The battle was again 
bloody and obstinate. The French brought 
into action all their cavalry. General 
Regnierwith the Saxon corps gained the 
heights . beyond Rettenbach, and pursued 
their adversaries as far as Hottendorf. 
The French army rested near Gorlitz, the 
allies continuing to retreat in the direction 
of Schweidnitz. 

Thus the 19th, 20th, 21st, and !22d of 
May presented a succession of carnage in 
four successive battles fought by at least 
300,000 of the finest troops in the world. 
The killed and wounded were horribly 
great on both sides. Of the losses on ei- 



24 



ther part we can make no accurate esti- 
mate ; but some idea may be formed of 
the slaughter and suffering by the French 
statement, that the allies lost in wounded 
alone 28,000 men, of whom 10,000 were 
left on the field. The French acknowledg- 
ed a loss of 12,000 killed and wounded ; 
which probably may be doubled, and not 
equal the carnage of these four bloody 
days. Several general oflRcers were kil- 
led, among whom general Kirgener, and 
Marshal Duroc, duke of Friuli, were de- 
stroyed by the same cannon ball. 

On the 4th of June an armistice was 
signed, to continue from that time to the 
20th of .Tuly. This was preceded by the 
arrival of count ShouvalofFand the Prus- 
sian general Kliest at the head quarters 
of the victorious Emperor, where they had 
a conference of many hours. It was stip- 
ulated that the allies should, during the 
above-mentioned time, remain in East Prus- 
sia, and the French in Saxony and Silesia, 
having the privilege to provision the gar- 
risons of Dantzic, Stetten, Custrin, Molsk, 
^c. every five days, with a free use of a 



25 

French league of ground in the rear of 
each. A corps of the allies liiat bJocka- 
ded Magdeburg was removed. The princi- 
pal privilege gained by the allies was 
exemption from attack in their weakened 
condition. 

The events and termination of this 
short campaign of one month, were sub- 
jects of astonishment to the civilized world ; 
and various and strong were the hopes and 
fears of mankind during the negotiations 
for which this armistice gave time. The 
Prussian government made public decla- 
ration that the time gained should be 
employed in preparations for securing its 
independence. The governor of the coun- 
try between the Yistula and the Russian 
frontier, calmed the minds of the people 
by assurances that the armistice would not 
terminate in peace, and the crown prince 
of Sweden took a position with an army 
of 70,000 men on the lower Elbe, to be 
ready for the recommencement of hosti- 
lities. Notwithstanding these warlike ap- 
pearances a congress of plenipotentiarie.s 
met at Prague, and negotiations fo 
3 



26 

peace were carried on formally under the 
mediation of the emperor of Austria, by 
whose interference the armistice was ex- 
tended to the 10th of August. 

On the 14th of August the emperor of 
Austria published a manifesto, in which he 
announces the failure of the negotiations at 
Prague, and charges his son-in-law. Napo- 
leon, with being the cause. He announces 
as a consequence his joining the league 
against France, that being the only mode 
left him of preserving his independence, 
and procuring peace for Europe. 

Thus the war was renewed, and the 
power of Austria not only withdrawn from 
Napoleon, but set in array against him — a 
power stated at 150,000 soldiers. The 
total force in arms of the allies was said to 
be 477,000, exclusive of 70 or 80,000 
Swedes under the command ofBernadotte. 
All these mighty armies were under the 
command of men w ho had learned the most 
approved mode of warfare, either by fight- 
ing against or under the orders of Bona- 
parte. -^ 

Hostilities recommenced by an attack 



Ii7 

i 

upon a position of the allied army in front 
of Lauenburgh, which Marshal Davoust, 
with a superior force of French and Danes, 
carried at the point of (he bayonet. The 
allies on their part recommenced the bom- 
bardment of Stettin. 

The French, having concentrated an army 
of HOjOOO men in the environs of Beyruth, 
under Marshal Oiidinot, made a movement 
on the 21st of August which threatened 
Berlin. They advanced by the way of 
Trebbin, and forced all the positions of 
the allies, until they occupied the country 
between Mitten walde and the Soare. On 
the 23d General Bertrand debouched upon 
the Prussian corps of Tauenzein, but was 
repulsed ; but another part of the French 
army carried the village of Gross Beren, 
and the whole advanced upon Ahrendorf. 

The action was renewed by an attempt 
of the allies to regain Gross Beren. A di- 
vision of the French army having threat- 
ened the village of Ruhldsdorf, Berna- 
dotte sent a force to take them in flank, 
which decided the day in favour of the 
allies, who took 26 cannon, 3,500 prisoners, 
beside baggage and ammunition. 



H appears that the plan of the allies Ibu 
opening this second campaign of 1813, was 
to advance from Bohemia by the passes 
into Saxony, and commence offensive ope- 
rations in flank and rear of their enemy, 
should he maintain his positions in Lu^ 
satia and on the right bank of the Elbe. 
While the main Russian army under Bar- 
cls^y De Tolly, including the corps of 
Wittgenstein and Milaradovitch, the Prus.- 
sian corps of Kleist, and the whole of the 
Austrian army, were to act offensively, 
under the chie.f command of Prince 
Schwartzenburgh. General Blucher, with 
a corps d^armie composed of a division of 
Prussians under general D'Yorck, with 
two Russian divisions, were to move from 
Silesia on Lusaiia, and threaten the front 
of the French army. 

In conformity with this plan, Blucher 
advanced in three columns on the 20th of 
August, the French withdrawing their posts 
before him; but on the 21st Bonaparte 
advanced upon the allies at Buntslau, Lou- 
•enburg, and Laun, attacked, and after an 
obstiijate contest, forced the Prussian vete- 



29 

ran to retreat with a loss of upwards of 
2,000 men. The grand army of the allies 
was at the same time passing the frontiers 
of Bohemia and Saxony ; the columns of 
Wittgenstein and Kleist by the passes of 
Petersvvalde, and the Austrians by Komo- 
tau. On the 22d Wittgenstein's corps fell 
in with a portion of the French army un- 
der general St. Cyr, and after a sharp ac- 
tion, drove this corps of 15,000 men with 
considerable loss into Konigstein and the 
entrenched works near Dresden. The 
other corps of the French army retreated 
before the allies to the same point. The 
allies now pressed forward on every side, 
and encircled Dresden. On the 26th ol" 
August the advanced guards of the Rus- 
sians, Prussians,, and Austrians encamp- 
ed upon the heights above Dresden, and 
on the 27th the French abandoned all the 
ground in advance of the city, and with- 
drew into the suburbs and their difierent 
works. These movements were not un- 
accompanied by losses of life on either 
part, in actions of minor importance, but 

which in other wars might have been deem- 

3* 



30 

ed battles, and recorded for the gallantly 
displayed, and the slaughter inflicted ; but 
now the conflicts of armies, in which thou- 
sands are engaged, or even thousands slain, 
sink into insignificance, in comparison with 
the great days of conflict in which hun- 
dreds of thousands were engaged in deeds 
of death, and the victims of ambition by 
tens of thousands lay mangled with wounds 
in mingled heaps of dead and dying, on the 
horrible fields of their contention. 

The 27th of August is memorable in the 
records even of this war. The French 
bad scarcely retired to their posts in and 
around Dresden, when the allied armies, as 
if with an intent of terminating the war 
hj the destruction of Bonaparte and his 
legions, made a combined attack upon 
all the French works. At four o'clock 
in the afternoon the troops moved to the as- 
sault. A tremendous cannonade from all 
the artillery of the allied armies began 
the operations of destruction, and was 
answered by an equal and more destruc- 
tive discharge of cannon upon the unshel- 
eje d and advancing assailants. On all 



31 

sides the troops of Russia, Prussia, and 
Austria, closed upon the works of the 
French, and in several places with una- 
vailing valour stormed t^e redoubts literal- 
ly in the cannon's mouth. The Austrians 
gained one redoubt of eight guns not 
above sixty yards from the main wall, but 
the French only quitted it for a shelter 
behind other works, from whence they 
mowed down their enemies, themselves in 
security. The artillery of the allies made 
no impression upon the walls of the city, 
and the troops were exposed to an una- 
vailing slaughter, where there were no 
breaches to facilitate their attacks, and 
where they were exposed to the fire of an 
enemy whom they could not reach. Bo- 
naparte, seeing his assailants completely 
checked, ordered a sortie of 30,000 of his 
guards; and it required all the skill of the 
allied generals to withdraw their troops 
from the combat. Prince Maurice of 
Lichtenstein sustained the attack of the 
guards, and prevented the retreat from be- 
coming a rout. The allied armies regain- 
ed their encampments, leaving many thou- 



32 

Sands of their best troops dead and dying 
on the field. 

The French Emperor, who had entered 
Dresden immediately after the victory he 
had obtained over Blucher, and Justin time 
to direct these important operations, de- 
termined upon following up the repulse 
of the allies by an attack upon their en- 
campments the next day. The troops who 
had made the sortie of the 27th remained 
upon the field, and on the morning of the 
28th Bonaparte marched his whole army 
to the attack. 

The allies occupied a very extended 
position on the heights surrounding the 
city of Dresden, and although to assault 
an army in its camp which the day before 
bad been considered strong enough to 
carry the redoubts and walls of a city de- 
fended by 130,000 men, or, perhaps, more, 
was an arduous undertaking, yet the French 
commander knew that he had the advan- 
tage of directing troops triinnphing in the 
success of the preceding day, who if check- 
ed could retire to the shelter of the ram- 
parts lined with cannon which supported 



'33 

their rear. The day was hazy with a great 
fall of rain, and the battle was principally 
maintained by the artillery of both armies 
and by frequent charges of cavalry. 

Towards the middle of the day a catas- 
trophe occurred which awakened more than 
ordinary sensibility and regret throughout 
the allied army: General Morcau, whilst 
in earnest conversation with the Emperor 
of Russia, on the operations of the day, 
had both his legs carried off by a cannon 
shot, the ball going through his horse. 
This distinguished warrior had quitted his 
retirement in the United States, in conse- 
quence of a previous arrangement with the 
allied monarchs, and had accepted the 
commission of Major General from the 
Emperor of Russia, and acted as chief of 
the staff of the allied armies. It had been 
supposed, in addition to the weight which 
his name and talents threw into the com- 
mon cause of Europe, that it was expect- 
ed that the French armies might be in- 
duced to rally round him in case of any 
reverse of fortune on the part of Napoleon, 
and that Moreau, the former favourite 



34 

general of France, would be the champioil 
and restorer of the Bourbons. If such 
were the plans of the allies they were frus- 
trated by a random cannon ball; for after 
suffering all the torture of a double ampu- 
tation. General Moreau expired during the 
/etreat which followed the battle of Dres- 
den. 

Bonaparte perceiving that the left wing 
of the allies, composed of Austrians, was 
in some measure separated from the main 
army by the intersection of the valley of 
Plauen, ordered Murat to fall upon it with 
a great force, and seconded him by other 
able manoeuvres. The attack succeeded so 
far as to throw the enemy into confusion, 
and make many thousand prisoners. The 
allies, perceiving that the French Emperor 
liad pushed a large body of forces across 
the Elbe at Koningstein and Pina, to pos- 
sess himself of the passes in their rear, and 
having suffered severely by the actions of 
these two bloody days, began their retreat 
in the evening of the 28th. The French 
claim on this day, with propriety, a victo- 
ry, but their boasts of taking 30,000 prison- 



35 

ers, 60 cannon, and 40 pair of colours, are 
in the usual style of European official 
despatches, where exaj2;geration of the ene- 
my's losses, and careful concealment of 
their own disasters, appear to be the main 
object of the writers. By the subsequent 
events, the observer is enabled in some 
measure to separate truth from falsehood. 
General Yandamme had the command 
of the troops which Bonaparte had pushed 
forward upon the great road of Peterswalde 
to embarrass the retreat of the allied ar- 
mies. This movement caused another san- 
guinary battle on the 29th of August. The 
Russian column under Count Osterman, 
who was to return by the pass of Oster- 
walde, found Vandamme in possession of 
the pass in the mountains, and most gallant- 
ly forced their way through with the bayo- 
net. The Russian guards, under the Grand 
Duke Constantine, came to their support, 
and though the French repeatedly return- 
ed to the charge, they were kept in check 
the whole day, and their plan evidently 
frustrated. The allies acknowledge, how- 
ever, on this occasion, a loss of 3,000 men', 



3() 

asd suppose the French losa at least dou° 
ble. 

The allied armies found themselves un- 
der the necessity of making a more general 
attack on the 30th, upon that division of 
the French army which had been engaged 
the preceding day, not only to give time 
for those columns of the army to fall back 
which were retiring upon the Altenberg 
and Dippoldswalde road, but to extricate 
the Prussian corps of General Kleist, which 
had not disengaged itself from the moun- 
tains. A great proportion of the artillery 
train and baggage of the allied army had 
not yet got clear of the mountains when 
the French appeared at HoUendorf and 
Kulm, about three German miles from 
Toplitz. The attack being determined up- 
on, 12,000 Russians and 12,000 A ustrians 
began the battle of Toplitz, the remaining 
part of the troops collected for this ser- 
vice remaining in columns of reserve in 
the adjacent plain. The village of Kulm 
is situated at the bottom of a range of 
mountains which forms a barrier between 
Saxony and Bohemia; from this point 



37 

branch off two distinct ranges of mouu- 
tains, east and west ; between these ranges 
the ground is generally flat, affording, how- 
ever, some good defensible positions. Up- 
on this ground, immediately fronting the 
Tillage of Kulm, the French collected a 
strong force of infantry and artillery, and 
kept up a galling fire upon the Russians un- 
der Milaradovitch. Such was the able dis- 
position of the French general, that the 
allies declined a direct attack upon him, 
but the Austrians were ordered to move 
along the high ground upon the right, 
while the Russian guards and infantry were 
to commence their attack upon the left so 
soon as the Austrians were sufficiently 
advanced. While these movements were 
executing, the Prussian corps under Kleist 
unexpectedly appeared in the rear of the 
French, descending the road by which they 
would retreat if necessary, and joining in 
the attack, the French were completely 
defeated with great confusion, loss, and 
slaughter. The fruits of this victory to 
the allies were General Yandamme and six 

other generals prisoners, 60 pieces of artil- 
4 



38 

lery, 10,000 soldiers prisoiiei'S, and 6 stand- 
ards. The commander in chief of the 
allies in the battle of Toplitz was Barclay 

de Tollj. 

In Silesia the absence of Bonaparte, and 

the drafts made from that army which had 
recently beaten Blucher, was taken advan- 
tage of by that skilful veteran to attack 
the French, now nnder the command of 
Marshal IVrDonald. On the 29th of Au- 
gust, M'Donald was defeated with the loss 
of 15,000 men prisoners, and J 00 pieces of 
cannon. Tlie number of slain does not 
appear, or what proportion of loss fell to 
the share of the victors. 

In the mean time the allied army under 
Bernadotte, which was opposed to the 
French troops commanded by Marshal 
Oudinot, who threatened Berlin, was at- 
tacked on the 23d of August at the village 
of Gross Beren. The contest, though se- 
vere, was not long doubtful : Oudinot was 
repulsed and beaten with the loss of 1500 
prisoners, 26 pieces of cannon, 30 caissons, 
and his baggage. This success not only 
prevented the corps under Girard^ which 



39 

rnanceuvretl upon Berlin from Magdeburg, 
from combining with Oudinol, but exposed 
it to a separate attack on the 27th at Belzig, 
>vhere it was completely defeated with a 
loss of 3500 prisoners, 8 pieces of cannon, 
and part of its baggage. These successes 
enabled the crown prince to press upon 
the retreat of Oudinot towards Witten- 
burg. On the 28th the town of Luckau 
surrendered to General Tauenzein, with its 
garrison, 1000 men, and on the 30th the 
allied army had its advance between Inter- 
bock and Zinna. 

On the lower Elbe hostilities commenced 
immediately on the cessation of the armis- 
tice, and Marshal Davoust attacked the 
allies under Count Walmodin, but without 
any decisive advantage, or any conse- 
quence but a mutual slaughter of the sol- 
diers of either part. 

Early in September the allied army of 
reserve under General Beningsen, crossed 
the Oder, and advanced upon the Bober. 
The troops which had been at Toniitz for 
some time, waiting supplies, were again 
put in motion. The Russians and Pnis- 



40 

sians, under Barclay de Tolly and Witt- 
genstein, with some Austrian divisions, 
re-entered Saxony by Peterswalde, and 
Marienburg, and approached Dresden 
again. Prince Schwartzenberg, with a 
corps of Austrians, threatened the right of 
the French in Lusatia. 

On the 8th of September the Russians 
and Prussians, under Count Wittgenstein, 
who had advanced through the mountains 
beyond Peterswalde and Zehista, on the 
road to Dresden, were attacked by the 
French and defeated. The chief contest 
was for the village of Dohna, which the 
French finally forced the allies to abandon ; 
and Wittgenstein retreated to Peterswalde, 
The allies acknowledged a loss of 1000 
killed and wounded. On the 9th Bona-^ 
parte joined this portion of his armies and 
pressed upon the allies, who retreated fight- 
ing, until they had accumulated a force 
sufficient to justify giving battle; they 
were accordingly drawn up for the contest 
on the 12th with 100,000 men and 800 
pieces of cannon, in strong position. Bona- 
parte declined the risk, and commence^ 



41 

a retrograde movement towards Dresden, 
breaking up the roads in his retreat. 

Marshal Davoust having despatched a 
corps under General Pecheux towards 
Magdeburg, Courit Walmoden crossed the 
Elbe on (he 14th, and surprised the French 
corps, which was routed with a loss of 3000 
men killed, wounded, and prisoners. 

The grand armies of France and of the 
allies from the 13th to the 16th had several 
affairs and skirmishes each occasionally 
advancing or receding. On the 16th Bona- 
parte made an attempt to turn the right of 
the allies before Kulm, at the same time as- 
sailing the centre and left. The French 
succeeded in gaining the flank of the allies 
unperceived, and forced them from their 
position. Tiie Russians and Prussians 
were saved from absolute defeat by gene- 
ral Coloredo with a corps of Austrians, who 
advanced and held the French in check. 
The French likewise succeeded in throw- 
ing the centre of the allies into confusion, 
but finally withdrew to their position on 
the mountains, keeping possession, howe- 
ver, of the village of INollendorf, from which 
4* 



42 

they bad driven the allies. The loss of 
men in this affair was considerable, but is 
not stated in the despatches. 

A French corps under the command of 
general Lefebre Denouette, consisting of 
8000 cavalry, 700 infantry, a squadron of 
Mamelukes, and a party of Tartars, were 
attacked near Altenborg by PlatofF and 
his Cossacks, and completely put to rout. 
Fifteen hundred prisoners and five guns 
were the fruits of this achievement. 

On the side of the army of Bohemia, the 
allied sovereigns having been joined by the 
corps of general Beningsen, determined to 
move forward by their left. The army 
was ordered to march on the first of Octo- 
ber. A variety of manoeuvering and some 
fighting took place in the crossing of the 
Elbe. General Blucher crossed on the first 
and attacked the French entrenched posts 
between Wartenberg and Bledin. The re- 
sistance of the French under general Ber- 
trand was, as usual, obstinate, and the con- 
test long and bloody. General D'Yorck's 
Gorps carried the strongest position, took 
above 1000 prisoners, 16 pieces of cannon 



43 

with tlieir Irain. In this action the Prus- 
sians suffered severely. A body of 2000 
men of the French threw themselves into 
Wittenberg, the remainder falling back 
upon Kemberg. Blucher pursued them in 
the direction of Leipsic. Marshal Ney, 
with his corps, retreated from Dessau to- 
wards Leipsic, to which point the two hos- 
tile armies now tended, as if by consent 
there to settle the destiny of Europe. 

It appears that the plan of the French 
Emperor had been to strike at Prague, and 
establish himself on the line of supply of 
the Austrian armies. For this purpose 
General Vandamme had been pushed for- 
ward with assurance of support, which 
failing, caused his destruction, and the fail- 
ure of the plan of supply. The French 
troops in the mountains of Bohemia had 
suffered extreme distress in consequence. 
At Dresden great scarcity and consequent 
misery had been experienced, and the 
French corps who retraced their steps 
across the Elbe, were in a deplorable state 
of suffering. 

The army of the allies continued to ad- 



44 

Tance in a direct line to Leipsic, near which 
place the head quarters of Prince Schwartz- 
enberg- were established early in October. 
The Prince Royal and General Bluclier, 
havino- advanced towards the same point, 
the allied forces had nearly formed a junc- 
tion; a ridequ was thns drawn across this 
part of Saxony, extending from Dessau to 
Marienburg on the Bohemian frontier. In 
the mean time Gen. Beningsen drove the 
French from their intrenchments at Gieshu- 
bel and advanced towards Dresden on the 
great road from Toplitz. The great force 
brought against Bonaparte, especially by 
the command of the great resources of Rus- 
sia and the talents displayed by Bernadotte, 
who was the prime mover of the allies, 
placed the French armies in extreme jeo- 
pardy, though so lately triumphant before 
Dresden. 

The Crown Prince intended by a move- 
ment of the whole allied force to the left 
bank of the Saale to force Bonaparte to a 
general battle with forces much superior 
to his in number and condition, or to em- 
barrass and harass his retreat, if he should 



determine upon a measure which the coiia- 
bined movements of the armies of Bohe- 
mia, Silesia, and of the north of Germany 
on his flanks, and all his communications, 
seemed to render so necessary. 

Napoleon manoeuvred from Dresden 
with a large body of cavalry on the right, 
and ail his infantry on the left bank of the 
Elbe, as far down as Archlau. He made 
a strong demonstration with 20,000 men, 
as if to oppose Blucher in his passage of 
the Elster. But the allies were not to be 
turned aside from purposes which they 
knew they had strength to fulfil, and the 
army of Blucher, being now in close com- 
munication with that of the Prince Royal 
Bernadotte, was marched from Dieben on 
Jamilz on the 9th, and passed the Mulda; 
and the Crown Prince concentrated hie 
forces between Zorbig, Radegast, and Bit- 
terfeld. 

The French Emperor now concentrated 
a part of his forces about Eulenberg and 
Oschatz, between the Mulda and the Elbe. 
The allies passed the Saale, and were 
placed in order of battle with their left 



46 

upon that river, waiting the further move- 
ments of Bonaparte. In the mean time the 
various corps d'arm^e of the allies continu- 
ed to advance, hemming in their adversary 
until he had taken his stand around Leip- 
sic. But before the decisive events which 
took place on that memorable field of ac- 
tion, we must record more particularly the 
movements of the allied armies in their 
advance, and a bloody battle fought be- 
tween the French and allied army of Sile- 
sia on the 1 4th of October. 

When the allies received certain intel- 
ligence that the French armies were with- 
drawing from the right bank of the Elbe 
to collect about Leipsic, the Crown Prince 
occupied with his advanced guard the left 
bank of the Malda, and General Blucher 
bad his advance at Merzeberg and Sched- 
nitz. On the 14th Blucher pushed his 
advanced guard on the great road to Leip- 
sic, occupying the villages on^eftch side of 
it. The French were in force in his front, 
holding Debutch and Bitterfeld with some 
troops along the Mukla. The Crown 
Prince issued orders to march to Halle in 



47 

tlie nischi of llie 14tli ; but wlion liJs troopii 
were in march he took up his head quar- 
ters at Sylbitz, and placed the Swedish 
army with its right at Wjlten and its left 
near Petersl)erg. (leneral Buhiw occupi- 
ed the centre of his line between Peters- 
berg and Oppin, and the corps of Win- 
zingerode was on the left at Zorttig. Blu- 
cher found the fourth, sixth, and seventh 
corps of the French army, and part of the 
guard, under Marshals Mat mont and Ney ; 
General Bertrand occupy irsg a line with its 
right at Freyroda and its left at Linden- 
thai. 

The country is open and \ery favoura- 
ble to cavalry around these villages; but 
in front of Kadefeld, the French were co„ 
vered by a wood, and had the advantage 
of more intersected ground. The plan of 
attack of the allies was that General Lan- 
gcron should assault and carry, first Frey- 
roda, and then Radefeld. General JD'Yorck, 
with his corps d'armee, was to move on the 
great causey leading to Leipsic until he 
reached Sitzchera, and then to turn to his 
left and force the French post at Linden- 



4s 

thai. A corps of Russians was to press on 
the main road to Leipsic. The corps of 
Gen. St. Priest was to follow General Lan- 
geron. About mid day the cavalry were 
formed, and the troops at their stations. 

The onset was made as directed, and the 
French retired from their post in advance, 
but obstinately contested the posts covered 
by wood on their ri^^ht, and the villages on 
their left. At Mockern a most sanguinary 
conflict ensued, and it was taken and reta- 
ken several times with prodigious slaughter 
on both parts. This was the hottest part 
of the field, and most of the superior offi- 
cers were either killed or wounded. At 
length, numbers prevailed where valour 
was equal, and the victorious Silesians 
carried all before them and drove the 
French beyond the Parthia. 

The resistance on the right of the French 
was nearly as persevering. Here the Rus» 
sians bore the brunt of the fight, and they 
were equally successful with their allies. 
Though the allies gained the victory, it was 
night alone which put an end to the action. 
The veteran Blucher held as trophies of 



49 

conquest 18 cannon, one eagle, and a few 
hundred prisoners, and aclinowledged a loss 
of between 6 and 7000 men. 

Before we enter into a detail of the battles 
of Leipsic, on which the fate of the cam- 
paign and of Jllurope depended, let us take 
a view of the state of that unfortunate city 
immediately previous and at the time. 

Leipsic, the greatest commercial city of 
Germany, had been open in its declaration 
of ill will to the French despot, and had 
consequently sutiered a full portion of 
the miseries and oppression he knew so 
well to inflict; and all the surrounding- 
country was rendered desolate by an im- 
mense army which gathered on all sides, 
and subsisted in the most licentious and 
wasteful manner upon the product of the 
soil and the property of the people, whose 
own despot was in alliance with the leader 
of tliese locust-like protectors. All that 
had been spared to Saxony fiom imposts, 
contributions, and quartering?, was now 
literally devoured, and the peasant and the 
villager gladly escaped with their lives from 
the allies of their kinor. The citizens of 



50 

Leipsic could look from their steeples and 
see armies which seemed innumerable, 
literally encircle them. Bodies of troops 
were constantly entering and passing from ^ 
the city. The public buildings were hos- 
pitals filled with sick and wounded, and 
supported by the city. Scarcity of food 
reminded the inhabitants that unless some 
change soon took place they were doomed 
to all the horrors of famine. In this slate of 
things they anxiously beheld the approach 
of the allied armies, forming another and a 
greater circle around the host that sur- 
rounded their city. 

The order in which the allied armies 
approached to the attack of the French 
was as follows : The corps of General 
Giulay, Prince Maurice Lichtenstein, Thi- 
elman and Platotl', were collected in the 
neighbourhood of Pdarkradstadt, VTilh or- 
ders to move forward on Leipsic, keeping 
open a communication on the one side with 
Blucher's army, and on the other these 
corps were to detach from their right to 
facilitate the attack of the corps of Gene- 
ral Mereveldt and the fljvision of Bianchi 



51 

Wcissondorf, upon Zwacliau and Conne- 
vvitz ; at which latter plare the bridge across 
the Pleisse was to be carried. General 
Nostelz's cavalry were to form on their 
rjf^ht. In case of retreat these corps were 
to retire upon Zeitz. The reserves of 
the Russian and Prussian guards were to 
move on to Rotha, where they were to 
pass the Pleisse and form in columns on 
its right bank. The reserves of the prince 
©f Ilesse Homberg, Generals Mere veldt 
and Wittgenstein, were also to take post 
at this station ; General Barclay De Tolly 
to command all the columns on th^ ^'^gi't 
bank of the Pleisse. Generals Witlj^en- 
stein, Kleist, and Klelnau, were to advance 
from their respective positions on Leipsic 
ihe Russian guards forming their reserve. 
General Colloredo advanced from Borne 
as reserve to General Kleinau. The re- 
treat of Colloredo's corps was to be on 
Chemnetz, and that of Wittgenstein, Kleist, 
and Kleinau on Altenberg and Penig. 
The army of General Beningsen was to 
push on from Coldlitz on Grimma and 
W urtzen. 



52 

The reader may, after this detail, with 
the aid of his map, have an accurate notion 
of the situation and intention of the allies, 
previous to one of the greatest battles 
ever fought. 

Bonaparte, thus encircled, did not wait 
to be attacked. Though under disadvan- 
tageous circumstances, he had still the 
spirit of a conqueror, and the skill of a 
consummate commander. With an army 
inferior in numbers, the cavalry of which 
was contemptible in comparison with their 
adversaries, the French Emperor himself 
led the battle, and on the 1 6th of October, 
the first day of this long scene of carnage, 
broke the ranks of the allies, and seemed 
slillto be the favourite of victory. 

Taking a view of the surrounding liosts 
from Leipsic, the French army was seen 
stretching in a vast semicircle from Pauns- 
dorf to Brobstheide, and was lost to the eye 
in the wood? of Konnewitz. Their re- 
serves were in an inner circle near the city. 
Towards the north and west, the columns 
were more detached, though the form of the 
lines was the same. The morning of the 



58 

I6th was foggy, rainy, and cold; and the 
first indication of battle was given by the 
roaring of cannon from Liebert Wolko- 
witz. Six hundred pieces of artillery were 
at once brought into action. Two solitary 
buildings which the French occupied near 
their centre, were attacked by the Russian 
infantry, and, after an amazing carnage, 
carried. The French cavahy, poor as they 
were, made a desperate push under the di- 
rection of Murat, and broke through the 
line of the allies. Here the combined army 
suflTered most on this day ; for though the 
French were partially repulsed by the 
Austrian cuirassiers, they carried their 
point, and caused a change in the order of 
battle. Other divisions of the allies, ad- 
vancing towards the city, according to the 
plan detailed, came successively into ac- 
tion, and the cannon of the allies fron;i 
Kleinschacher were answered bv the 
French artillery from Lindenau. The 
allies endeavoured to force the French at 
Lindenau, but were repulsed by the volti- 
geurs wilh great loss. In the afternoon 
Napoleon claimed a victory, and ordered 
5* 



5^4 

the bells of Leipsic to be rung ; but the bat- 
tle raged until six in the evening, and then 
seemed only to cease by mutual consent at 
the approach of darkness. The killed 
and wounded of the day was immense, yet 
this was but a prelude to the Battle of 
Leipsic. 

On the night of the 16th the inhabitants 
of Leipsic were ordered to rejoice for a 
■victory obtained by tlieir protectors over 
the allies; but they still beheld the same 
hostile circles around their city, marked by 
lines of fires encircling each other until lost 
in distance, and saw their public buildings 
and the corn magazines crowded with mu- 
tilated wretches who were brought groau- 
ing from the field of their monarch's glory 
to suffer and die; and those were fortunate 
who found shelter and assistance in these 
abodes of misery ; for such were the multi- 
tudes, that hundreds (it has been asserted 
that thousands) lay on the pavements with- 
out aid, or food, or water to quench their 
"burning thirst. 

The 17th of October was passed without 
renewing the action, and in preparations on 



i>o 



both parts for the struggle oflhe succeeding 
day. Tlie allies intended to attack on the 
]Gth, and it was determined to commence 
from their different points of assembly on 
the principal villages situated on the great 
road leading to Leipsic The armies of 
the north and Silesia >vere jointly to at- 
tack from the line of the Saale, and upon 
the French position on the Partha river. 
General Blucher reitiforced the Crown 
Prince Bernadotte with 30,000 men to 
attack from the heights of Faucha, while 
Blucher was to use his utmost endeavours 
to gain possession of Leipsic. In the event 
of the whole French force being brought 
to act against either of these armies they 
v^'cre to support each other and concert 
further movements. 

The French force which had been op-- 
posed to Bernadotte and Blucher, had takea 
up a strong poshion on the left bank of 
the Partha, having its right at the strong 
point of Faucha, and its left towards Leip- 
sic. The 1 7th of October appeared to be 
kept holy because it was the Sabbath, 
bat we kno.w that hero^ do not cease frqpa 



56 

the work of destruction either at the com*- 
mand of God or Nature. Comparative 
silence reigned throughout the late scenes 
of death, but the smoke of burning vil- 
lages, and the groans of wounded soldiers, 
and the hum of preparation for further mise- 
ry, marked this hollow truce as only the 
deceitful calm which precedes the tem- 
pest. 

The morning of the 18th of October 
arrived. The fate of Europe was to be 
decided by the joint talents of Bernadotte 
and Blucher, Wittgenstein, Barclay de 
Tolly, and Schwartzenberg, placed in op- 
position to Napoleon Bonaparte. Mon- 
archs were engaged as their engines, or 
stood by as spectators of the scene. 

The battle began with the dawn of the 
day, and before nine o'clock in the morning 
it raged through the whole line. To force 
the right of the French and gain possession 
of the heights of Faucha, was the first ob- 
ject of Bernadotte. The Russian corps of 
Winzingerode, and the Piussians under 
Bulow, vvere destined for this purpose, 
while the Swedes were ordered to force 



57 

the passage of the river, at Pfosen and 
Mockau. These first operations were suc- 
cessful, and General Winzingerode took 
3000 prisoners *at Faucha and some guns. 
The centre of the allies beinff engaged with 
the centre of the French near the villages 
of Stollentz and Probestheyda, General 
Blucher put his army in motion; and 
Bernadotte's army had not sufficient time 
to make their flank movements before the 
French infantry abandoned the line of the 
river and retired over the plain, in line and 
column, towards Leipsic, occupying Pauns- 
dorf, Somerfeldt, and Schonfeldt. Nothing 
very remarkable happened in this part of the 
field until near the close of the dav, when 
General Langeron, who had crossed the 
river, attacked the village of Schonfeldt 
with great fury, and was repulsed with pro- 
portionable loss. He, however, returned 
to the attack and took it; but was driven 
out again by a charge of the French. Blu- 
cher, hearing of these actions, sent him the 
most positive order to re-occupy it at the 
point of the bayonet — and it was done. 
During the action 22 guns of Faxon arti|> 



58 

lery joined the allies and two Westplmlian 
regiments. The Saxons composed a prin- 
cipal part of the seventh corps under gene- 
ral Ret^nier, and were posted in the left wing 
near Faucha. They had just come into ac- 
tion, and the allies had already brougttt up 
a great number of guns against them. To 
the astonishment of their leader, they 
marched forward in close files with their 
muskets clubbed, and went over to the ene- 
my with all their artillery. The artillery 
was immediately turned upon the French, 

The most desperate resistance made by 
the French on this day was at Probesthey- 
da, Stellerlitz, and Konnewitz ; but the co- 
lumns of the allies, to whom the attack was 
assigned, carried every point, though at 
great loss, by a valour and perseverance 
which was irresistible. 

Night closed this bloody contest, in 
which the French army was defeated with 
a loss of 40,000 killed, wounded, and pri- 
soners, 65 pieces of artillery, 17 battalions 
of German infantry, which came over to 
the allies during the action, with all the 



59 

staff and generals, besides the Saxon artil- 
lery and Westplialians, before mcnlioned. 

Bonaparte was already on tlje retreat, 
and continued during the ni<^ht of the 18th 
to withdraw iiis shattered battalions, and to 
make such preparations for the defence of 
Leipsic as should place that city as a bar- 
rier between him and the victors. He has 
in the latter part of his career proved that 
he was deficient in one essential quality of 
an accomplished general : he has never 
provided for the safety of his armies in 
case of defeat. Without recurring to the 
examples of the greatest generals, without 
mentioning Frederick, or Moreau, or W el- 
lington, even the duke of York, the mili- 
tary genius of the English royal family, w^as 
better at a retreat than Bonaparte. 

On the morning of the 19th the town of 
Leipsic was attacked and carried; the resist- 
ance made by the French w as scarcely suffi- 
cient to give time to their retiring columns 
to press out of the city by the Ranstadt 
gate, and retreat by the line of the Saale, 
the only road open to them. The armies 
of Tilucher, Bernadotte, a»\d Beningsen, 



6Q 

>Titli the grand army under Wittgensleiti 
and Barclay de Tolly, ail pressed upon the 
retiring foe, and entered Leipsic almost as 
soon as the French Emperor quitted it. 

The horrors and confusion of the retreat 
has been vividly described by an eye wit- 
ness. The columns of the French, which 
entered the town by three gates, had to 
press their way out through one, Avhile 
the artillery of the allies thundered upon 
the city, and their shells had set it on fire 
in several places. Cries and shouts re- 
sounded from every quarter. The retreat 
of the remaining troops, even before Bona- 
parte had left the city, had become a disor- 
dered rout. Horse and foot guards were 
mingled together, and their progress im- 
peded by wagons and cannon frequently 
locked together and choking the way, 
w hile droves of cattle were anxiously urged 
forward for the future sustenance of the 
fugitives. In the midst of this confusion 
tlie emperor was seen with a numerous reti- 
nue, all on horseback, making his way wilh 
difficultv through the surrounding chaos. 
A by road was afterwards pointed out to 




[B^SSD [1^ 




61 

iiini throu^li a garden, by which he passed 
the outward gate. 

Prince Potiiatowsky, who had been 
charged with (he defence of that part of 
the Leipsic suburbs nearest the Borna road, 
finding his retieat cut off, rushed, at the 
head of a few Polish cuirassiers and the 
officers of his suite, upon the nearest column 
of the allies. He had already two wounds, 
and now received a musket ball in his left 
arm. He pushed through his enemies, and 
threw himsfU into the Pleisse, the opposite 
bank of which he reached with the loss of 
his horse; he mounted another, and pro- 
ceeded to the Elster, the banks of which 
were already lined by the enemy. He 
plunged into the river, and with his horse 
instantly sunk. 

After Bonaparte and his marshals had 
made their escape the rout became more 
and more confused and destructive. In 
* the meantime, the allied princes, at the 
head of their respective armies, entered 
Leipsic at different points, and met in the 
great square, there to enjoy the acclama- 
6 



62 

lions of victory, and rejoice over the down- 
fall of their great enemy. 

The retreat of the French from the 20th 
of October to the 3d of November, from 
the Saale to the Rhine, was a succession of 
wo and disaster, only exceeded by the 
miseries of their retreat the preceding year 
from the Dnieper to the Niemen. Al- 
though it was only during the first six or 
seven days of the retreat that out of the 
whole coalesced armies, some divisions of 
the Silesian army under Blucher could 
keep up close enough to harass their ene- 
mies, yet upwards of 10,000 prisoners were 
made, 70 pieces of cannon taien, and the 
route of Bonaparte, as in Russia, was mark- 
ed by desolation, pillage, and conflagration, 
and by thousands of the lifeless or expiring 
victims of his cruel ambition. The disas- 
ters of the French did not solely proceed 
from the enemy that pursued them, or the 
necessary evils of precipitate flight ; Czer- 
nichofF, with a body of Cossacks and other 
light troops, had gained the front of the 
French army, and though not in force suf- 
ficient to offer battle, preceded their march, 



63 

preparing for them an endless succession of 
Texalions. They lay in wait for and cut 
off detached parties ; they broke down 
bridges and destroyed the magazines which 
had been provided in the towns tiie French 
had to pass. In these operations alone 
Czernichoflf is said to have taken 4000 
prisoners from the French. 

Thus hunted and harassed, they learned, 
as they approached the Maine, that a se- 
verer trial awaited them. General Wrede, 
with an army, was waiting for them at Kir- 
zig, and the scenes of the Berezina seemed 
preparing to be enacted anew. Wrede, like 
Tchitchagoff, stood in the way of further 
progress, and Blucher, like Wittgenstein, 
pressed them on from behind. But Field 
Marshal Prince Schwartzenberg had made 
loo sure of the effectual opposition whicb 
Wrede could make at Kirzig, and had or- 
dered General Blucher to turn off towards 
the Cahn and Coblentz. Bonaparte at- 
tacked Wrede with great skill, and was 
seconded by the desperate valour of the 
shattered remains of his armies. He burst 
through the barrier opposed to him, and 



64 

perhaps with an equal loss on his own part 
strewed the field with 10,000 of his oppo- 
sers. The allies were oblioed to retreat, 
and to evacuate Hanau. This battle was 
fought on the 30th of October. 

The French army pursued their march, 
leaving a garrison in Hanau, which Gene- 
ral Wrede attacked by storm. He was 
severely wounded in the onset, but the 
place was taken, and the whole French 
garrison put to the sword. 

For the purposes of freeing the north of 
Germany of the enemy, of strengthening 
general Walmoden in his operations against 
Marshal Davoust, who still held his posi- 
tion on the right bank of the Elbe, of pos- 
sessing Bremen, the mouths of the Weser 
and the Elbe, of reducing Hamburg, of re- 
storing Hanover to the king of England, of 
cutting off Davoust from Holland, and fa- 
cilitating operations upon that country, the 
Crown Prince moved with his army to- 
wards Hanover and the north. 

On the line of the Rhine the operations 
of the grand allied army under Prince 
Schwartzenberg brought this portion of 



65 

the allies to the vicinity of Frankfort on 
the Maine by the 5th of November. The 
Emperors of Russia and Austria entered 
Frankfort on that day, and were joined by 
the kinoj of Prussia on the 1 3th. The kings 
and princes whom Bonaparte had created 
hastened to abjure their connexion vvitli 
France, and secure the protection of the 
conquerors. 

Field Marshal Blucher continued his 
march for the lower Rhine, and arrived 
with the army of Silesia at Mulheim on the 
13tb of November. On the 2d of Decem- 
ber a body of troops crossed the river at 
DusseldorfF, surprised the French garrison 
at Neussand destroved the mao^azines. 

Switzerland, after the overthrow of the 
French army at Leipsic, declared itself 
neutral. The act of neutrality was passed 
by the diet at Zurich on the 20th of No- 
vember. Deputies were sent to Bonaparte 
and to the allies for their consent, and 
troops raised to protect their frontiers. 

The advance of the army of Bernadotte 
reached Hanover on the ist of November^ 
and the inhabitants hastened to abjure King 
6* 



66 

Jerome. The navigation of the Weser w a& 
restored by the reduction of Carltfort and 
Blexen. An assault on Stadt was repul- 
sed i but the French garrison, fearing a re- 
petition, withdrew and crossed the Elbe 
to Hamburg, where Marshal DaToust soon 
after shut himself up with his army. 

When Bonaparte assembled his forces at 
Leipsic, he left Marshal St. Cyr, with his 
corps and the remains of the corps of Yan- 
damme, to defend Dresden and cover his 
flank. On the 17th of October, St. Cyr 
attacked and defeated the corps of Russians 
under Tolstoy which was left to mask Dres- 
den. After the battle of Leipsic General 
Kleinau was sent against St. Cyr, and final- 
ly succeeded in making prisoners of his gar- 
rison. The garrisons of Stetten, Erfurt, 
and Dantzig, shared the same fate. 

The troops under the direction of Ber- 
nadotte continued to advance. Winzinge- 
rode established his head quarters at Bre- 
men, and detached troops on Olden burg^ 
and East Friedland, thence they crossed 
the Ems, entered Holland, and took Cro- 
Binjen with its garrison* Other Dutqb 



67 

towns shared the same fate. The corps of 
Von Bulow entered Holland by the side of 
Munster, sweeping every thing before it, 
and putting the garrisons of Doesburg and 
Arnheim to the sword. 

On the news of the approach of the 
victorious allies the inhabitants of the 
Hague, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Haerlam, 
Leyden, and some other towns, rose in 
resistance to the French ; who submitted to 
circumstances, and by agreement withdrew 
their troops. A provisional government 
being established at the Hague, deputies 
were despatched to England to invite the 
prince of Orange to assume the government, 
and to solicit aid from the ministry. Some 
troops were immediately sent off, and an 
armament under Sir Thomas Grahatn as- 
sembled in the Downs. The prince of 
Orange arrived at Schevelin on the 30th of 
P^ovember, and he was saluted as sovereign 
prince of the Netherlands. 

Bomiparte re-entered France a second 
time as a fugitive. His first attention was 
turned to the finances of the empire, and 
by a decree of JNovember 11, the taxes 



68 

and duties were augmented, and measures 
were adopted soon after to anticipate the 
revenue. On the 1 9th the emperor met 
his senate. In his address he tells them 
that the splendid victories he had obtain- 
ed in the last campaign were rendered 
useless by the unparalleled defection of 
his allies ; that as he had never been se- 
duced by prosperity, he will be found supe- 
rior to adversity; that a preliminary basis 
of negotiation for a peace had been pre- 
sented to him by the allies, and negotia- 
tions entered into thereon; that the de- 
lays attendant upon assembling a con- 
gress at Manheim are not to be attributed 
to France; that he wishes for peace, and 
regrets the necessity of calling upon his 
people for new sacrifices; that Denmark 
and JNaples alone remain faithful to him; 
that he has recognized the neutrality of the 
nineteen Swiss Cantons; and concludes by 
calling upon the senate for their support. 

A new levy of 300,000 conscripts had 
already been ordered by Bonaparte ; which 
measure called forth a declaration from the 
allied powers, dated at Frankfort, Dec. Jj 



t)9 

JI81.3, in wliich they " promulsjate anew, 
in the face of the world, the views which 
guide them in the present war." They 
^ay that they do not make war upon France, 
but against that preponderance which, to 
the misfortune of Europe and of France, 
'* the Emperor Napoleon has too long ex- 
ercised beyond the limits of his empire ;" 
that the first use they have made of victo- 
ry is "to offer peace to his majesty the 
emperor of the French ;" that the condi- 
tions offered are founded on the indepen- 
dence of the French empire, as well as on 
the independence of the other states of Eu- 
rope; that they desire that France may be 
great, powerful, and happy, as being one 
of the foundations of the social edifice of 
Europe; that tl;ey confirm to the French 
empire an extent of territory which France 
under her kings never knew ; that they de- 
:^ire a partition of strength, by which to 
preserve their people from such miseries 
as haye been experienced ; and that they 
will not lay down their arras until this ob- 
ject is obtained-.^ 



70 

In the meantirne preparations for wa!', 
offensive and defensive, were carried on 
witli unremitting exertion. Napoleon made 
his last el!<>rt to recruit his exhausted ar- 
mies, and Ihe allies prepared to cross the 
Khine and invade France. On the 20tli 
of December 160,000 men entered Swit- 
zerland and crossed the Rhine at Basle, 
without opposition. 

On entering the Swiss territory the 
commander in chief of the allies. Prince 
Schwartzenberg, issued an order by which 
his soldiers were notified that they entered 
the Swiss territory as friends. Other ar- 
mies of the allies passed the Rhine at Dus- 
seldorf and at Coblentz. The force that 
entered France was stated at 300,000 men. 
Lord Wellington, with the English, Spa- 
nish, and Portuguese armies, had previous- 
ly entered the territory of France by the 
south, and had gained several bloody bat- 
tles over Marshal Soult near Bayonne. 

The allies had left behind them the 
strong frontier places of the Rhine in pos- 
sessjon of their enemies, and entered France 
by its most vulnerable part ; taking their 



rl 

route Ibroiiojh Franche Compte and Lor- 
raine. They had already addressed a pro- 
clamation to the French people in the same 
style of dignified moderation and wisdom 
which had characterized their preceding 
declaration in respect to peace, and which 
marks such superior talents in the councils 
of the emperor of Russia. They assured 
the French people that they did not make 
war upon them, but only wished to repel 
the attempts of the government of France 
to subjugate the states of the confederacy. 
They promise to respect public order and 
private property. They disclaim all mo- 
tives of retaliatory vengeance. They con- 
clude by expressing their desire for that 
peace which they had offered before en- 
tering the territory of France. 

Bonaparte, on this as on very many 
other occasions, had been blind to his own 
interest through an inordinate wish to pro- 
mote it. He might have remained and 
been confirmed on the imperial throne of 
France; but he demanded Italy. The 
ministers of fate moved on, and be prepar- 
ed for the last struggle ajj^ainst his destiny. 



1% 

On tbe 3Gtb of December, the senate 
addressed the French emperor for the last 
time in the tone and terms of adulation. 
Thej told him that they came to offer him 
the tribute of their attachment and grati- 
tude; that he had 2;iven the strongest 
pledge in his power of his desire for peace; 
that he acted upon the belief that power 
is strengthened by being limited, and that 
the art of promoting the happiness of their 
people was the chief policy of kings; 
that the French united under him would 
not suffer their invaders to triumph; and 
they conclude with requesting him to ob- 
tain peace by a last effort worthy of him- 
self, and then sign "the repose of the 
world." 

In his answer he tells the senate that they 
have seen what he has done for peace, but 
in the meantime. Beam, Alsace, Franche 
Compte, Brabant, are invaded ; he talks of 
the tenderness of his hearty and calls upon 
the French to succour the French ; con- 
cluding with, "the question is now no 
more to recover the conquests w^e hav& 
made." 



IS 

In ibis extremity the tottering Emperor 
was deserted by almost his last ally ; Den- 
mark entered into treaties of peace and al- 
liance with Sweden and Enojland, and en- 
gaged to furnish to the allies 10,000 men, 
England paying willingly a subsidy of 
400,000/. for the purpose of opening new 
markets to her ships and manufactures. 
England had before entered into a treaty 
with Sweden to give her Norway, and in 
case Denmark would not consent England 
was to assist in the conquest. To this ar- 
rangement Denmark now acceded by force; 
but the Norwegians refuse to be transferred, 
and declare themselves independent. 

Marshal Davoust continued to hold Ham- 
burg, and indicated a determination to de- 
fend the place to the last extremity. He 
had ordered the inhabitants to lay in a stock 
of provisions for six months. The period 
allowed to procure this supply having ex- 
pired, he issued an order directing all those 
who had neglected fulfilling the injunction 
to quit the city, and 5000 inhabitants were 
in consequence expelled. 
7 



74 

in the meantime the armies of the allies 
moved on to their destined point without 
any obstacle of consequence, until Bona- 
parte in person put himself in opposition to 
the veteran Prussian General Blucher at 
the battle of La Rothiere. The French 
emperor, having appointed the empress 
Maria Louisa again regent, left Paris on 
the morning of the 25th of January, 1814, 
to take the command of the armies of 
France. 

Field Marshal Blucher having been com- 
plimented with the command of the Aus- 
trian corps of Count Guilay and the Prince 
Royal of Wirtemberg, in addition to the 
Russian and Prussian armies before under 
his orders, found himself opposed in his 
advances towards Paris by an army com- 
manded by the Emperor in person. The 
allied forces were at least 80,000 at this 
point, the French perhaps nearly equal in 
number. 

Marshal Blucher, after a reconnoisance 
made on the morning of the 1st of Februa- 
ry, gave the following directions for an at- 
tack. 



75 

The corps of General Baron Sachen was 
ordered to move forward in two columns 
from Trannes, one taking the direction of 
Brienne by the road of Dienville, and tl;e 
second on tlie village of La liothiere. The 
corpsof General Count Guilay formed the 
reserve of the first column, and that of 
General AlsufiefF. the second. Tlie Rus- 
sian guards were ordered to form a re- 
serve for the whole, on the heights be- 
tween 'JVannes and Eclance. 

The Prince Royal of Wirtemberg was 
ordered to march from Eclance upon Chau- 
menil, leaving a small wood in front of the 
right of the position of the allies occupied 
by the French, on his left, with a view of 
turning it and opening a communication 
with General Count Wrede, who was ad- 
vancing upon Chaumenil from Doulevent. 

The attack commenced precisely at 12 
o'clock. The French were in position at 
Dienville and La Rotliiere, having their 
left at the small village of La Gibrie. 
Their cavalry, as well as that of the allies, 
was drawn out in the plain between the 
two positions. The French infantry dis=^ 



76 

posed in lar^e masses on the flanks of, and 
within the villages, which were Hoed with 
artillery. 

Skirmishing and cannonading in the plain 
were the preludes to the attack, which was 
made with irresistible impetuosity by the 
Prince Royal of Wirtemberg, who drove 
the French from the village, but had scarce- 
ly occupied it when in their turn they at- 
tacked, beat, and expelled him. A brigade 
of grenadiers w^ere ordered to his support; 
he again attacked, and after a long and san- 
guinary contest remained master of the 
wood and the village. During these ope- 
rations, the result of which remained doubt- 
ful for three hours, the French emperor 
menaced the flank position of the allies, 
but the veteran Blucher was not to be 
turned from steadily pursuing the combi- 
nations on which the result of the day 
depended. The effect of the combination 
of General Wrede's movement was accu- 
rately foreseen, and before the village of 
La Gibrie was in the Prince Royal of 
Wirtemberg's possession, every requisite 
order was given for the execution of move- 



n 

ments depending upon that event and the 
approach of Wrede. 

Bonaparte having moved a corps to his 
left, General Baron Saclien drew all his 
force to the attack of La Rothiere, which 
formed the key of the French position. 

General Count Guilay attacked the town 
of Dienville, but was repeatedly repulsed; 
the conflict continued through the whole 
day with various success, but with nearly 
equal carnage. Night interrupted, but did 
not terminate the struggle, and it was nearly 
midnight before the French abandoned this 
post, and then only in consequence of 
the general movement of the army. 

The most bloody and obstinate resist- 
ance, however, was made to the superior 
force of veteran troops, by the French, 
who were posted at La Rothiere. Baron 
Sachen carried the place by an irresistible 
attack, but was in his turn expelled from 
part of the village, and the artillery and 
musketry of |he French was directed from 
the church and adjoining houses, while the 
Russians kept up an equally destructive 

fire from others. Bonaparte in person led 

7* 



7S 

on an attack at the head of his young 
guards, and had a horse shot under him. 
Here too the fight continued longer than 
the day, but about 10 o'clock the village 
was abandoned to the Russians. 

The French retreated about midnight 
in two columns upon Lesmont, Lessicourt, 
and Ronay. On the right of the village of 
La Rothiere, Gen. Sachen took twenty 
pieces of cannon and some hundreds of pri- 
soners. The Prince Royal of Wirtemberg 
advanced upon Chaumenil, and formed his 
junction with General Count Wrede. The 
former took six pieces of cannon, the latter 
seventeen. The loss in killed and wound- 
ed was very great. 

Immediately after the battle commenced 
the emperor of Russia and king of Prussia, 
with Field Marshal Prince Schwartzen- 
berg, came upon the field. Field Mar- 
shal Blucher immediately afterwards pro- 
ceeded to the front to carry into effect the 
dispositions he had made. He was among 
the foremost in the attack of the village of 
La Rothiere when on the other part his 
great adversary led the attack. This bat- 



79 

tie is called by tlie allies, the battle of La 
Rothiere, by the French, of Brienne. 

The French columns began to retire 
about midnight, but they still occupied the 
position of Brienne at daylight on tlie 2d 
of February; on which day General Gui- 
lay moved with his corps along the Aube 
upon the right of the French army, the 
Prince Royal of Wirtemberg marched 
upon Brienne, General Wrede advanced 
upon the right of the Prince Royal. The 
French continued to retire upon Lesmont, 
Lessicourt, and Ronay. Several minor ac- 
tions took place during the day. 

Prince Schwartzenberg received a sword 
from the Emperor Alexander, in testimony 
of his admiration of his skill and talents in 
bringing his army without loss from the 
frontiers of Switzerland, traversing all the 
defences on this side of France, and form- 
ing a junction with Marshal Blucher in 
time to gain so distinguished a victory, nor 
was the high merits of the veteran field 
marshal, so often opposed in person to 
Bonaparte, or that of the other generals,, 



80 



forgotten or unrewarded by distinguishing 
marks of approbation. 

On the 5th of February an affair took 
place between the advance of the corps of 
general D'Yorck, and the rear of that of 
Marshal M' Donald near La Chaussee, be- 
tween Vitry and Chalons. M'Donald con- 
tinued to retire upon Chalons. Three 
cannon and some hundreds of prisoners 
were taken by the allies, Avho followed 
upon the road to Chalons, and on the 
French entering that town, immediately 
commenced a bombardment Marshal 
M'Donald entered into a capitulation to 
save the town, by which he agreed to 
evacuate the place on the 6th, which was 
accordingly done, the French retiring to 
the left bank of the Marne. 

Troyes was taken possession of by the 
allies on the 7th of February, The Prince 
Royal of Wirtemberg had on the day pre- 
ceding turned the French position near 
Kavigni ; they abandoned Troyes in the 
evening, and the prince entered it next 
morning. 



at 



Thus, \vbile Prince Schwarizenbero-'s 
army, which had separated from Blucher 
after iiis victory of La Rolhiere, was ad- 
vancing upon Paris by the Seine, Blucher 
drew by forced marches towards tlie Marne, 
with the design of approaching Paris in the 
direction of that river. 

This separation was not only judicious 
but necessary, from the facility it gave of 
gaining supplies; however, it appears that 
the angle of these two lines of operation 
was too contracted. Bonaparte, who re- 
treated towards Paris, was between the two 
lines of march, and in advance, and with 
the same troops might operate upon both 
at short intervals, and could on occasion 
cut off all communication between the two 
armies. 

The army of Field Marshal Blucher on 
the 10th of February occupied a very ex- 
tended position. Its head under General 
Baron Sachen was at La Ferte sous 
Jouarre; General D'Yorck was at Cha- 
teau Thierry; an intermediate division 
und^' General Alsufieff was at Cbampau- 



S2 



bed, andBlucber himself, with Langeron's 
corps, at Yertus. 

Bonaparte saw and seized the opportuni- 
ty given him by the extension of Blucher's 
army, broke up from No2;ent on the 9th of 
Febinjary, and on the iOth attacked the 
Russian division under Alsufieff" at Chan> 
paubert, which, after a valiant resistciiice, 
was killed, wounded, or taken prisoners, 
including their general ; not more than 
1 600 men escaping, who joined the division 
under the immediate care of Blucher. 
On the 1 1th of February Marshal Blu- 
cher's head quarters were at Bergeres, and 
on that day Generals D'Yorck and Sachen, 
in consequence of the successful attempt 
which Bonaparte had made to break the 
line, turned about, and after forming a 
junction, marched on Montmirail. Here 
a severe action ensued. The generals of 
the allies withstood the attacks of the 
French emperor with great firmness, and 
held their position through the day, though 
with immense loss. The hottest part of 
the action was at the village of Marchais, 
which was repeatedly taken and retaken^ 



83 

Bonaparte succeeded in culHriir off the al- 
lies from the inain divisi(jn of Blucher's 
army, and they retreated intlie ni<>;ht upon 
Chateau Thierry, with the loss of four can- 
non. At Chateau Thierry, Generals Sa- 
chen and D'Yortk passed the Marhe on 
the 12th, destroyed the bridoe, and l>y cir- 
cuitous routes retreated towards Cialons. 
On the 13th Marshal Mortier, havinii re- 
paired the bridge, crossed the IVlarne in 
pursuit of Sachen and D'Y^orck, and the 
same day Bonaparte arrived at Chateau 
Thierr}', with intent to follow in the same 
direction, but he was the same evening 
recalled by new events to Montmirail. 

Field Marshal Blucher, with the two 
corps of Kleist and Langeron, had broken 
up from Vertus on the 13th to attack the 
corps of Marmont, which Bonaparte had 
left at Eloges as a corps of observation 
upon the Prussian veteran. Blucher ad- 
vanced his head quarters to Champaubert, 
Marmont had a small corps of from 9 to 
10,000, and was obliged to retreat fight- 
ing, to the neighbourhood of Montmirail, 
where he was joined by Bonaparte, who 



had made a forced march with the whole 
of his guards and a large body of cavalry. 
A very severe action now took place. 
Marshal Blucher beinoj inferior in num- 
bers, particularly in cavalry, formed his in- 
fantry into squares, and commenced a re- 
treat. The French made repeated and 
desperate charges with their cavalry upon 
these squares of infantry, which, although 
sustaining great loss, retired with that ad- 
mirable firmness which characterizes the 
German troops. After a very severe and 
unequal contevSt, carried on during a retreat 
of nearly four leagues, the Prussian mar- 
shal observed a large body of cavalry 
posted on the Chaussee in his rear hear 
Etoges. He resolved to force his way 
through this obstacle, and by opening a 
heavy fire of artillery and musketry upon 
this cavalry, posted in a solid mass on the 
Chaussee he succeeded in forcing them to 
retire. Upon reaching Etoges, towards 
night, the French made a new attack upon 
the allies with a body of their infantry, 
which Bonaparte had pushed through by- 
roads upon the flank and rear of his retreat- 




^D©¥©[K 



85 

in<^ adversary. Through this impedi- 
ment the Prussians vviih renewed slauojhter 
made their way. In this manner Field 
Marshal Blucher regained his former posi- 
tion near Veiius, with an acknowledged 
loss of 3,500 men. 

Blucher continued his retreat to Chalons, 
uhere, on the IGth, he was joined by the 
corps of Sachen and D'Yorck, and here 
the Silesian army, which had sustained an 
acknowledged loss of 13,000 men, was 
forthwith put under reorganization. 

It is not likely that Bonaparte would 
have left his veteran adversary undisturb- 
ed at Chalons, to recruit his strength and 
prepare again for ofTensive operations, but 
that his presence was called for to op- 
pose the progress of Prince Schwarlzen- 
berg with the main army of llie allies. 
The French emperor was under the ne- 
cessity of facing both armies of the allies 
with the same troc»ps, and had no sooner 
beaten back all the corps of Blucher than 
he was recalled to fight the divisions of 
Schwartzenberg, which threatened Paris. 

The corps which Bonaparte had left 
H 



86 

on the Seine, under Yictor and Oudinot, 
to observe Schvvartzenberg's movements, 
were too weak to act with any etfect even 
on the defensive. The allies under Prince 
Schwartzenberg moved from Troj'es on the 
loth. Nogent and Sens were taken by 
storm, and the French forces retired from 
the left to the right bank of the Seine, 
after destroying the bridges. Count Witt- 
genstein advanced towards Pont-sur-Seine, 
General Wrede towards Bray, and having 
replaced the bridges, followed in pursuit. 
Wrede advanced upon Provins. The corpg 
of the allies under the prince of Wirtem- 
berg, Bianchi, and GuiJay, made good their 
passage against an ineffectual resistance, 
and on the 16th of February the head quar- 
ters of Prince Schwartzenberg were ad- 
vanced to Bray, and the next day PlatofF 
entered Fontainbleau. The same day the 
advance of the grand army was within 40 
miles of Paris, at Nangis. 

But here, too, the activity and valour of 
(he French emperor and his troops changed 
the aspect of affairs. On the 17th Bona- 
parte had placed himself in a situation t» 



87 

coinmence olFensive operations upon the 
gjrand allied army, and on the I81h he at- 
tacked Count Wittgenstein's corps at 
Nan<j;is, and beat it back, with a ^reat loss 
of men and artiUery. Prince Schwartzen- 
bero^ was obliged to retrace his steps, and 
recross the Seine. The French pursued 
with repeated attacks upon liis rear. 

On the 19th Bonaparte attacked the 
corps of the prince royal of Wirtemberg, 
posted on Montereau, and occupying the 
bridge at that place. The allies contended 
against the fury of repeated assaults until 
late in the day, when the French succeed- 
ed in driving them from their positions, and 
occupying the bridge. 

On the 21st the French head quarters 
were again at Nogent; and on the 2.M Bo- 
naparte appeared before Troyes. To se- 
cure the town from destruction, an agree- 
ment was entered into, by which the allies 
were permitted to leave the place without 
molestation, and on the 24th the French 
emperor entered. 

Meanwhile Marshal Blucher, after rest- 
ing his army a few days, and collecting 



every reinforcement withie reach, had set 
out to form a junction with the grand army 
under Prince Sch wartzenberg. On the 2 1st 
of February, he had scarcely arrived at 
Mery upon the Seine, and relieved Witt- 
genstein's corps, when the town was attack- 
ed by two corps from the opposite side^ 
without any further result than burning 
the town. Blucher maintained his position. 
This movement of Marshal Blucher facili- 
tated the retrograde movements of Prince 
Schwartzenberg, and both armies now re- 
tired. 

Marshal Blucher broke up from Mery 
on the 23d of February, crossed the Aube 
the next day near Auglure, and marched 
across the country towards La Ferte Gau- 
cher. This movement appears to have 
been with a view of being reinforced by 
the corps of Bulow, Woronzow, and Win- 
zingerode, which were advancing from 
the north, the latter having already taken 
Soissons by assault, and made prisoners its 
garrison of 2000 men. By eflPecting a junc- 
tion with these corps, Blucher would have 
command of a most imposjug array, and 



89 

might cliange front and operate fronn the 
northward against Paris, placing himself in 
such a relative situation toSchvvartzenberg, 
that Bonaparte should no longer operate 
with the same forces upon both. 

Thus the first attempt of the allies failed 
to gain possession of the capital of the 
French empire. It has been seen that on 
the ilth of February, the army of Silesia 
under Blucheriiad reached Ferte sous Jou- 
arre, only 45 miles from Paris; on the 16tb, 
it had retreated 78 miles, to Chalons, col- 
lecting its scattered divisions 123 miles 
from the French capital. On the 17th the 
grand army under Schwartzenberg occupi- 
ed Fontainbleau and Nangis, 45 miles from 
Paris; on the 19th it had fallen back 75 
miles to Troyes, or III from the metropo- 
lis. 

Great was the exultation of the French 
emperor at these successes, which were 
magnified beyond all bounds to inspire the 
people with confidence. The armies of 
the allies were represented as not merely 
repulsed, but dispersed, broken, annihi- 
lated. It was soon, however, seen that 
8* 



these annihilated armies were not only in 
being, but in greater force, advancing to 
new conflicts, to be terminated by a glo- 
rious peace. 

When Marshal Bkicher marched upon 
La Ferte Gaucher, Marshal Marmont re- 
tired with his corps to La Ferte .louarre, on 
the Marne, where he was joined by the 
corps of Mortier, who had been posted at 
Cliateau Thieiry to observe Winzinge- 
rode. By a skilful demonstration upon 
Meaux, which menaced Marmont's com- 
munication with Paris, Blucher compelled 
Lim to evacuate La Ferte sous .louarre, 
and leave open a passage for the allies, 
which was effected without opposition by 
crossing the Marne on the 28th of Februa- 
ry. Meanwhile Bonaparte, having intelli- 
gence of the movement of Blucher, broke 
up from Troyes on the 27th of February, 
and leaving an inefficient force to watch 
Prince Schwartzenberg, marched to oppose 
the army of Silesia. On the 1st of March, 
Bonaparte arrived upon the Marne, but 
Blucher was advancing upon Soissons. 
This place, which had been several 



91 

times taken and retaken, was now in the 
possession of the allies, and served as the 
point of concentration for all the troops 
destined to act under Blucher. On the 
3d of March the field marshal was joined 
by the corps of \\ inzin^erode, Woronzow, 
and Btdow, and his army extended from 
Soissons along the Aisne as far as Craone. 

On the 4th Bonaparte arrived on the 
Aisne, and next day attempted to force a 
passage at Soissons. An ol)stinate contest 
took place, but he was baffled witli loss. 
He then defiled the principal part of his 
army to the right, and on the Gth succeed- 
ed in crossing the river higher up, at Bery 
le Bee. On the 7th he attacked the left 
wing of Bkicher's army at Craone. Here 
was fought a bloody battle. The left 
wing of the allies, commanded by Winzin- 
gerode, where the principal attack was 
made, suffered an immense loss, and Blu- 
cher once more retreated before Bonaparte 
with a loss of 10,000 men, put hors de com* 
hat. 

After the battle of Craone the veteran 
marshal took another and a stronger posi* 



■ 92 

tion in a very commanding situation, im- 
mediately in front of Laon. On the 9th 
Bonaparte appeared in front of Blucher's 
position, and with about 80,000 men made 
a general and murderous attack, which 
lasted during that and the next day. Du- 
ring this tremendous contest, which termi- 
nated in the retreat of the French, the 
right and centre of the allies could do no 
more than maintain themselves in their 
strong position ; but in the left wing, 
w'tjere the corps of D'Yorck and Sachen 
fought, the French assailants were finally 
discomfited with great loss, leaving 6000 
prisoners and 48 pieces of artillery with 
the allies. 

Though repulsed with this loss, Bona- 
parte left his adversary unable or unwilling 
to pursue him, and immediately moved 
upon Rheims, where on the 12th the allies 
under General St. Priest had taken a posi- 
tion. Bonaparte attacked him on the 13th 
with the advance of his army, consisting of 
artillery and cavalry. The Russian ariille- 
vy and infantry maintained the conflict for 
mine hours, St. Priest was struck from 



93 

liis horse by a cannon ball, and carried off 
tbe field. The Russian cavalry Avere borne 
down by numbers and cut to pieces. The 
allies at length fled precipitately Ihroiieh 
Rheims, pressed upon by an overwhelming 
force of cavalry, and lost, beside killed and 
wounded, 5000 prisoners. 

During the removal of the main French 
army and emperor from the Seine, Prince 
Schwartzenberg, who was undoubtedly ob- 
itructed by a very inferior force, moved 
forward to re-occupy the ground he had 
lost, but gained no advantages of a decided 
or important nature. On the 4th his head 
quarters were at Troyes, at which place he 
continued until the 13th. On the 15th of 
March, in consequence of Bonaparte's 
retreat from before Blucher at Laon, 
Schwartzenberg moved to Pont sur 
Seine and assumed an aspect of offence. 
Several corps were put in motion, but 
the news of the defeat of St. Priest at 
Rheims checked all these movements. On 
the Kith the head quarters of prince 
Schwartzenberg were at Arcis, and Bo- 



M 

Baparte advancing Xrom Rheisns upon Fere 
Champenoisse. The nfiovements of the 
commanders of the allies were now di- 
rected towards forming a junction, and 
those of Bonaparte to obstruct that ob- 
ject. Frequent chancres of position, with 
actions between small corps of the contend- 
inoj armies, took place. On the 19th we 
find Bonaparte in possession of Arcis, aad 
the next day the allies concentrated all the 
corps of the main army before Arcis, and 
offered battle, but about one o'clock the 
French army were perceived filing off on 
the other side of the Aube, and their 
columns taking the direction of Vitry. 
Their rear guard, in Arcis, was attacked 
by the Prince of Wirtemberg, hut they 
valiantly defended themselves, and covered 
the movement of the army. 

Marshal Blucher, being joined by the 
remains of the corps of St. Priest, moved 
upon Rheims, which his advance enter- 
ed as the rear of the French retreated. 
The army of Silesia moved forward to 
their junction with the grand army. 

In the evening of the 2Jst of March, 



95 

the whole of the Frencli army was iu 
march for Yilry. That night the French 
emperor remained at ^oinmessus; on the 
followinor day the advance of his army ar- 
rived at Vitry, and summoned the place 
to surrender. A Prussian colonel, with 
4000 men, held it for the allies, and re- 
fused to surrender, which obliojed the 
French commander to cross the Marneby 
bridges which he constructed near Frig-ni- 
court. Bonaparte here passed his whole 
army on the 23d and 24th of March, and 
immediately took the direction of ^t. 
Dezier. INIarshals Ney and M'Donald 
were in front of the allies, filing to join 
the emperor at St. Dezier. 

Bonaparte might now have had one of 
these three objects in view : either by move- 
ments round the right of the allies to force 
them back ; or, if that failed, to operate 
upon their communications, and even pro- 
ceed to form a junction with marshal Au- 
gereau; or, lastly, by moving to his for- 
tresses of Metz, &LC. prolong the war by 
resisting on a new line, while he placed the 
allies in the centre of France, having taken 



96 

the best preeautions in his power for the 
safety of his capital. 

It is said that the allies knew this last to 
be his plan by means of an intercepted 
letter, and that Prince Schwartzenberg re- 
gulated his movements accordingly. The 
bold resolution was taken of forming the 
junction of the two armies to the westward, 
thus placingthemselves between the French 
army and Paris, and proceeding with a unit- 
ed force of at least 200,000 men to the ca- 
pital of the French empire. 

In order the better to mask this move- 
ment, the march of the allied army was 
made from Pougey, Lesmont, and Arcie 
on Vitry ; the emperor of Russia, by two 
extraordinary marches of 18 and 12 
leagues, eslablislied his head quarters, 
with those of the marshal prince Schwart- 
zenberg, at Vitry on the 24th of March. 

On the 25th the combined armies march- 
ed in three columns to Fere Champe- 
noisse. All the cavalry of the army form- 
ed the advance, and were to push for- 
ward to Sezanne. Marshal Blucher had 
arrived at Chalons, and his cavalry, under 




i^%%\Lm ^ 



97 

Winziri^erode and Czernichoff, had enter- 
ed Vitry on the 23d, and had been imme- 
diately despatched to follow up Bona- 
pai^e's march to St. Dizier, and threaten 
his rear. Winzingerode's infantry had 
remained with Bhicher at Chalons, to- 
gether with WoronzofFand Sachen's corps. 
Bulow had marched to attack Soissons; 
and Generals D'Yorck and Kleist had 
moved on the line of Montmirail. It 
is pretty obvious, from these movements, 
that if Bonaparte had not crossed the 
Aube, and, passing between the armies of 
Blucher and Schwartzenberg, thrown them 
between himself and Paris, he would have 
found himself in a similar situation to that 
which proved so fatal to him at Leipsic. 

It appears that the corps of Marshals 
Marmont and Mortier had been ordered 
by Bonaparte to join him, previous to hrs 
adopting his late plan ; or, perhaps, were, 
without instructions, retiring from before 
Marshal Blucher, and, ignorant of their 
emperor's plans, were moving down to- 
wards Vitry to join him. Certain it is 
fhat Marmont's advance was within a very 
9 



$lioit distance of Vitry on the night of tlie 
24th, without any suspicion that the place 
was in the hands of the allies. 

On the morning of the 25th of March 
the advanced guard of the Prince Royal 
of Wirtemberg fell in with the advance of 
Marmont soon after he had commenced 
his march. The French, perceiving a 
great force advancing upon them, retired. 
The cavalry pursued, and the Russian 
guards charged the French cuirassiers, 
and afterwards the infantry, taking 1000 
prisoners, 10 cannon, with caissons, wa- 
gons, ^c. 

Upon the arrival of Prince Schwartzen- 
berg at Fere Champenoisse, a large body 
of French were observed marching direct- 
ly upon head quarters. This proved to 
be a detached column of 5,000 men under 
Gen. Ames, which had been making its 
way under the protection of Marmont's 
corps from the neighbourhood of Mont- 
mirail to join the emperor's grand army* 
This corps had in charge an immense 
convoy with 100,000 rations of bread and 
ammunition. The cavalry of Marshal 



99 

Bluclier bad first discovered this Corp?, 
and had driven it upon Fere Champe- 
noisse, as tlie cavalry of the grand army was 
advancing". Some char<xes oi" cavahv had 
been made upon this corps, principally 
composed of youn<^ troops and national 
guards; they were formed in squares, and 
defended themselves with the skill and firm- 
ness of veterans. When they were com- 
pletely surrounded by the cavalry of bolh 
armies, some officers were sent to demand 
their surrender, but they refused, and seem- 
ed determined to cut their w ay throuf^h 
their enemies, marching on and firing with- 
out cessation. A batterv of Russian artil- 
lery was opened upon them, which broke 
down their ranks with terrible slaughter^ 
and this was followed by renewed charges 
of cavalry, which completed their destrucr 
lion. The corps of Marmont and Mortier 
retreated upon Paris, and left in the hands 
of the allies on this occasion between 86 
and 9l) pieces of cannon, from 6 to 7,000 
prisoners, beside the convoy above men- 
Jioned. 



100 

Generals D'Yorck and Kleist, who had 
moved from Montmirail to La Ferle Gau- 
cher, arrived on the 26th, in time to allot- 
ment the discomfiture of this portion of the 
French army. General D' Torek's corps 
made IjfjOO prisoners. Notliino; but a con- 
tinued series of forced marches could have 
enabled Marmont and Mortier to carry 
off the remains of this army into Paris. 

On the 26th of March the grand army 
of the allies was in motion in three co- 
lumns from Fere Champenoisse. The 
head quarters of the emperor of Russia 
and Prince Schwartzenberg were at Tref- 
fou ; the cavalry of Count Pahlen were 
pushed on beyond La Ferte Gaucher, and 
joined Generals D'Yorck and Kleist; the 
cavalry and reserve were bivouacked at La 
Yergere, on the right of the great road ; the 
6th and 4th corps were in the centre ; the 
5th on the left, and the 3d remained in the 
rear to cover all the baggage, artillery, 
parks, and train, and to make the march 
of the whole compact. Some partisan 
corps occupied the country about Arcis 



101 

and Troyes, between the Marne and Seine 
rivers. 

Generals Winzingerode and Czernichoff, 
who continued to foHow on the rear of 
Bonaparte with 10,000 cavalry and 40 
pieces of cannon, found that he was march- 
ing by Brienne to Bar sur Aube and Tro- 
yes, thus hastening back to the capital 
with the utmost precipitation. 

On the 28th and 29th of March the unit- 
ed armies of Prince Schwartzenberg; and 
Marshal Blucher passed the Marne at Tri- 
port and Meaux. The French opposed but 
a feeble resistance to the passage of the 
river. About 10,000 of the national guard 
endeavoured to make a stand before a 
part of the army of Silesia between La 
Ferte Jouarre and Meaux, but General 
Home, placing himself at the head of 
some squadrons, pierced tlie French in- 
fantry and took their commander prison- 
er. On the evening of the 28th General 
D'Yorck was severely engaged near 
Claye; he, however, succeeded, after 
some obstinate fighting, in dislodging the 
9 * 



102 

French troops from the woods about that 
place. 

On the 29th the whole army (with the 
exception of the corps of Wrede and 
Sachen, which were left in position at 
Meaux) advanced upon Paris. Continual 
skirmishing took place, but the French 
retired, giving up Pantin, on their right, and 
the ground in front of Montmartre on 
their left. 

Previous to the junction of Marshals 
Marmont and Morlier's corps with the gar- 
rison of Paris, that capital had only for its 
defence a part of General Gerard's corps, 
with about 8,000 regular troops, and the 
national guards, amounting to about 30,000 
men, under General Kulin. Joseph Bona- 
parte, with this inadequate force, had 
charge of the defence of the capital of 
France. Marmont and Mortier render- 
ed him every assistance in their power. 

On the 30th of March the French occu- 
pied with their right the heights of Fonte- 
noy, Romainville, and Belleville; their 
left was on Montmartre, and they had 
several redoubts in the centre, on the canal 



103 

de rOurque, and on the whole line a 
train of artillery of above one hundred 
and fifty pieces. This position was strong 
from the intersected nature of the ground 
on its right. The heights of Montmarlre 
commanded the plain in the rear of the 
canal de TOurque, and added strength to 
the French position ; but it is easily seen, 
that the force of the defenders was by no 
means adequate to resist an army of 
200,000 Russians, Austrians, and Prussians, 
flushed with victory, inured to discipline, 
and directed by generals equal, at least, 
to the marshals of France. 

In order to attack the French positions, 
the Silesian army was directed upon Mont- 
martre, St. Denis, and the villages of La 
Valette and Pantin ; while the grand army 
attacked the right of the French, on the 
heights of Fontenoy, Komainville, and 
Belleville. 

The 6th corps, under ReifTsky, moved 
from Bondy, in three columns of attack, 
supported by the guards and the reserves. 
Leaving the great route of Meaux, they 
attacked the heights of Romainville and 



104 

Belleville, which, as well as Montmartre, 
are very commanding, the ground between 
being covered with villages and country- 
seats. These heights command Paris, and 
the country around. 

Prince Eugene of Wirtemberg, with his 
division of the 6th corps, commenced the 
attack, and endured for a long time a most 
galling fire of artillery, but being support- 
ed by the reserves of grenadiers, he car- 
ried the heights of Romainville, and the 
French retreated to those of Belleville. 
The Prince Royal of Wirtemberg sup- 
ported this attack by a simultaneous move- 
ment, upon the heights of Rosney and 
Charenton. The Sd corps of the army- 
was placed in echellon, near Nuilly, in re- 
serve, as well as the cavalry. 

The attack of the Silesian army was de- 
layed by some accident, and did not com- 
mence so soon as that of Prince Schwart- 
zenberg. But the columns of Blucher 
were soon seen debouching under Generals 
D'Yorck and Kleist, and attacking the 
French positions at Auberville and Saare. 
At Pantin the French made a gallant re- 



103 

sistance to the overwhelming numbers of 
their enemies, but the place was carried by 
the allies at the point of the bayonet. 

In the centre a strong redoubt and bat- 
tery kept General D'Yorck in check for a 
long time, but the right flank of the Frencli 
having been gained by the successful at 
tack upon Romainville, they were obliged 
to retire from this position. 

The French commanders, seeing the 
unavailing resistance which their brave 
troops were making to superior numberf^', 
demanded a cessation of hostilities, offer- 
ing to give up all the ground without the 
barriers of Paris, until further arrange- 
ments could he made. 

The chiefs of the allies, guided by that 
wisdom which has so eminently distin- 
guished their councils, and so conspicuous- 
ly led them to victory, immediately acced- 
ed to the proposition. Count Par, ai«l- 
de-camp to the emperor of Russia, auvl 
Colonel OrloiT, aid-de-camp to Prince 
Schwartzenberg, were sent to arrange the 
cessation of hostilities. At 4 o'clock in 
the afternoon the battle bad ceased, and 



106 

Count Nesselrode, bis imperial majesty's 
minister, entered Paris. 

It is sometimes useful, and always 
agreeable, to follow tbe tbought wbicb so 
often suggests ilself, "if sucb an event bad 
not happened, what would have been the 
consequence?" for although tbe destined 
chain of causes and effects is undeviating 
and unchangeable, we can imagine a link 
removed, and replace it by another, whose 
consequences inevitably lead to a result 
widely different from the reality. Thus, 
if Bonaparte had, instead of throwing him- 
self in the rear of the allies, kept himself 
between them and Paris, we must imagine 
from this day's conflict, in which the 
French had so slender a force to oppose 
to the immense host of their assailants, 
that all the army of Bonaparte, with the 
unbroken corps of Marmont and Mortier, 
would have given a fearful, perhaps a fatal 
check to the progress of the allied sove- 
reigns. But happily for mankind, Napo- 
leon rushed blindly, in more than one in- 
stance, to his destruction ; and the moment 
had now arrived when empire and power 



107 

were to fall from him, and a new system of 
things commence under the guidance of 
those councils which had overthrown him. 
The day after the battle of Paris, the allied 
princes entered that capital, and their en- 
try may be considered as the signal of the 
complete downfal of Napoleon Bonaparte; 
perhaps by previous agreement with the 
leaders of the French people. 

Before we enter upon the detail of the 
arrangements by which peace was restor- 
ed to Europe, we will look back to the 
events which were passing in the north, in 
Italy, and in the south of France, during 
the march of the allies to Paris. 

We have seen that the crown prince of 
Sweden, in November, entered Hanover, 
and pushed forward his troops into Hol- 
land. In both these countries this prince 
was deservedly popular. His great ta- 
lents and consummate prudence, which had 
been so eminently useful in the councils 
of the allies during the progress of the war 
were now usefully exerted in the north ; 
while Russia, Austria, and Prussia attract- 



108 

ed the gaze of the world on a more splen- 
did scene of action. In February he was 
still in Hanover, and addressed a proclama- 
tion to his countrymen, the French, in 
which he declares that the intention of the 
allies is not to divide France, but to secure 
their own independence : he accuses Bona- 
parte of being the author of all the evils 
which Frenchmen suffer, but somewhat 
ludicrously reproaches them with serving 
a man not born among them. On the 12th 
of February, when crossing the Rhine and 
entering with his Swedes the territory of 
his native country, he again addressed his 
French countrymen ; he tells them, that at 
the command of his king he had taken up 
arms for the defence of Sweden; that he 
had avenged the Swedes, and assisted in 
effecting the liberation of Germany ; that 
the object of the war, on the part of the 
allies, is to secure themselves, not to injure 
France, and that his principal happiness 
will conist, after fulfilling his duty to his 
adopted country, "in securing the future 
happiness of his former countrymen**' 



109 

Hamburg, in possession of the French, 
under Marshal Davoust, continued to expe- 
rience the misery resulting from the pre- 
sence of a garrison of foreigners, who seized 
upon every resource, which the city pre- 
sented, to retard that event which the in- 
habitants most wished. 

In Holland the leaders of the people, not 
conteiait with the restoration of the ancient 
constitution, and the hereditary stadthold- 
ership in the house of Orange, changed 
the character of the government to that of 
a limited monarchy. On this occasion the 
prince of Orange issued an address, on the 
2d of December, 1813, in which he disa- 
vowed all inclination to assume any other 
title than that of stadtholder, but submit- 
ted his will, like a dutiful sovereign, to 
the will of his subjects. The sovereign 
prince issued a decree, annulling all the 
duties and restrictions established by the 
French government. Tlte work of recti- 
fication and reestabiishment went on hap- 
pily ; and on the 3d of March, 1814, Wil- 
liam of Orange and Nassau, J-^overeign 
Prince of the United Netherlands, issued 
10 



no 

a proclamation, in whicli he says, that hav- 
ing been called to the sovereignty by the 
people, he has declared that he undertook 
the same only under the guaranty of a 
constitution, which should secure the free- 
dom of the people against all abuses: 
that he had considered it his duty to sum- 
mon together " men of consideration," and 
to charge them with the task of establish- 
ing a fundamental code corresponding to 
the habits, wishes, and necessities of the 
people; that this had been performed and 
submitted to him; that he approves of it: 
but as it concerns the whole of the people, 
the people must be consulted thereon ; 
that the people must receive the strongest 
assurance that their interests are attended 
to by the constitution, that religious free- 
dom shall be secured, that education shall 
be attended to, that personal freedom shall 
be no longer an empty name, that the ad- 
ministration of justice shall be impartial, 
that commerce, agriculture, and manu- 
factures, shall not be obstructed, that no 
restraint be imposed on the domestic 
economy of the people, that by the coope- 



Ill 

ration of the two principal branches of the 
government, the general laws shall be 
founded on the true interests of the state, 
that " the finances, and the arming of the 
people, the main pillars of the body poli- 
tic, be placed in that central point upon 
which the greatest and most invaluable 
privilege of a free people — their indepen- 
dence — may be firmly fixed." After ta- 
king a glance at the miseries the country 
has suffered, he calls upon the people to 
support him in his efforts to reestablish the 
country, and states, that in order to be 
enabled to judge whether the constitutional 
code, thus framed, be a means of obtain- 
ing the end wished, he purposes to submit 
it, for maturer consideration, to an assem- 
bly of the best qualified persons; he has, 
therefore, appointed a special commission, 
to choose, out of a list given in to him, 600 
persons, in due proportion to the popula- 
tion of the existing departments, who, 
when confirmed by the people (as after 
directed) shall meet on the 28th of March, 
1814, at Amsterdam, and determine this 
weighty business." The prince goes on to 



il'2 

say, that a list of the persons chosen fo:p 
each department shall be made public; 
that any inhabitant, being a housekeeper, 
Hiay> by signing his name in a register 
which shall lay open for eight days in each 
canton, disapprove of any person or per- 
sons whom he may deem unqualified ; and 
that, when it shall appear to him, from 
summing up the registers, that the ma- 
jority are satisfied with the persons thus 
submitted to their election, he shall con- 
sider them as the representatives of the 
whole Dutch people, call them together, 
appear in the midst of them, and salute 
them as such ; that they shall, in freedom, 
proceed in their labour, and report by a 
committee their progress to him, and as 
the constitutional code is adopted, he will 
take the oath prescribed, and be installed 
in state. 

In the mean time, the English army 
which had been sent to the Netherlands to 
cooperate with the allies appears to have 
sustained a series of defeats and disasters. 
Sir 1\ Graham, distinguished in the history 
of the present war by the sanguinary as- 



113 

saults of St. Sebastian, met with repulse 
in two attempts upon Antwerp early in 
February, but his defeat in an attack upon 
Bergen-op-Zoom, on the 8th of March, 
was singularly disgraceful to the English 
arms. This almost impregnable master- 
piece of the great engineer Cohorn was 
assaulted by the orders of General Gra- 
ham, and attempted to be carried by a 
coup de mairii without the requisite breach- 
ing being made, or, as it appears, any suf- 
ficient ground to justify the assault. 

The attack was made in four columns 
on the night of the 8th of IMarch. It had 
been given out that an attempt was to be 
made on Fort Lillo, between Antwerp and 
Bergen-op-Zoom. Bergen is on a rising 
ground, or hill, protected by a marsh on 
the southeast, and watered by the little 
river Zoom, which is distributed into dykes 
and canals. On the \vest it is washed by a 
branch of the Scheldt. It is stated that the 
French commander wished to evacuate the 
place, and that the inhabitants were in fa- 
vour of the assailants. 
10* 



114 

On the southeast side, and on the north 
side, next to Molen, the attack was made 
simultaneously, and, at first, with some suc- 
cess. Assisted by the ice, the English tra- 
versed the morass, scaled the empalements 
and cheveaux-de-frize, and gained posses- 
sion of part of the rampart. The garrison 
was taken by surprise, and made feeble re- 
sistance to the first divisions of assailants, 
but no confusion ensued ; the French flew 
to their posts, and made their usual skilful 
and valiant defence. Major General Cooke 
commanded the left column of the Eng- 
lish, Major General Skenitt and Brigadier 
General Gore accompanied the riglit, which 
was the first that forced its way into the 
place. The two columns were to move 
along the rampart, so as to form a junction 
as soon as possible, clear the ramparts, and 
assist the centre column, or force the Ant- 
w'erp gate. The left column was thrown 
into disorder by finding a difficulty in pass- 
ing the ditch on the ice, and their attack 
was delayed until half past 11 o'clock. 
They assaulted by escalade, but their ene- 
my was prepared for them. The French, 



nrj 

from the tops of the walls, raised up the 
ladders with hooks, and dashed down the 
men on the frozen ditches. Tiie gates were 
opened from within, and the greater part 
of this column likewise gained the ram- 
parts. Meanwhile General Gore and Co- 
lonel Carleton were killed. Major Gene- 
ral Skerrht severely \\ounded, and the 
right colinim fell into disorder, and suffered 
proportioiiahly in killed, wounded, and 
prisoners. The English guards were drawn 
up, and prepared to fire by platoons, when 
they were ordered to throsv out their prim- 
ing, and cliarge; they advanced at the pas 
de charge, but were mowed down by show- 
ers of balls which laid nearly the whole 
brigade prostrate. A detachment of tl»e 
guards which had been sent to the assist- 
ance of Colonel Carleton, and to secure the 
Antwerp gate, were totally cut off. 

The centre column, having been forced 
back with great loss, and its commanders 
both killed, were re-formed under tlie com- 
mand of a major, and marched to the as- 
sistance of General Cooke. 



116 

A fter a niglit of confusion, disaster, and 
slaughter, the day broke, only to show the 
English their forlorn situation, and to ex- 
pose them, unprotected, on the ramparts, 
to the surer aim of their enemies' guns. The 
reserve of the fourth column, thiS Royal 
Scots, getting under a destructive cross fire, 
threw down their arms. The French com- 
mander, General Bizanet, took the first op- 
portunity Avhich daylight afforded to send 
an officer to General Cooke with a sum- 
mons to surrender ; which he very wisely 
complied with, and the remainder of the 
English laid down their arms on the ram- 
parts of Bergen-op-Zoom. 

General Bizanet drew forth the admira- 
tion of his enemies more by his humane 
attention to his suffering assailants than by 
his excellent defence. He entered into an 
agreement for a suspension of hostilities for 
three days, suffered all prisoners, not too 
severely wounded, to depart on parole, and 
alleviated by every means in his power the 
miseries which a rash attempt had brought 
on the English troops. 



117 

In Italy Bonaparte was deserted by anO" 
Iher king of his own manufacturing ; and 
King Mural was received as a legitimate 
sovereign by the allied monarchs of Eu- 
rope. On the 17th of January, 1814, Mu- 
rat announced this event to the world, in a 
eurious manifesto. On the 191h his Neapo- 
litans entered the papal territories; esta- 
blished a provisional government at Rome 
on the 24th, and, progressing northward, 
occupied Florence, Another army of Ne- 
apolitans joined the Austrians at Farara on 
the 22d, and General Bellegarde, having 
had a personal interview with Murat, put 
his army in motion early in February, to 
attack Prince Eugene Beauharnois, who 
still adhered to Napoleon. With the Neapo- 
litans marching on his flank and rear, Beau- 
harnois was compelled to abandon his posi- 
tions on the Adige, which he had success- 
fully defended against the Austrians, and 
to fall back upon Mincio. On the 8th of 
Feb'uary General Bellegarde attacked the 
French at Yalleggio, and a very severe bat- 
tle with great slaughter ensued, without 
any decisive result. The advantage was 



118 

with Beaubarnois, who, nevertheless, was 
obliged, by the demonstrations of the Nea- 
politans against his rear, to continue his re- 
trograde movements. 

About the middle of February Lord 
Wellington, with an army of Spanish, Por- 
tuguese, and English, opened the campaign 
in the south of France. This great general 
had been enabled, owing to the successes of 
Russia, to drive the French armies out of 
the Spanish and Portuguese peninsula, and 
to follow them into the French territory. 
On the 27th of February w^as fought the 
battle of Orthez, in which Marshal Soult 
was defeated by the allies under Lord 
Wellington, and lost a large portion of hiis 
army not only by death, wounds, and cap- 
tivity, but by desertion. 

The army of the allies having crossed the 
Adour, below Bayonne, and invested that 
city. Lord Wellington pushed on a detach- 
ment of his army, under Sir W. Beresford, 
to take possession of Bordeaux. On the 
12th of March the citizens of Bordeaux, 
preceded by the mayor, came out to meet 
the English general with acclamations, and 



119 

displayed the white cockade in token' of 
loyalty to Louis XYIIT. 

Louis Antoine, dukeof Angouleme, and 
nephew to the titular king of France, who 
had been sent to the south to join Welling- 
ton, and take adv^antage ofthe events which 
might favour the Bourbon dynasty, publish- 
ed letters patent from the titular king, dated 
from Hartwell, England, authorizing him 
to establish the king's government in all 
places to w hich he might be able to pene- 
trate ; to levy troops, and receive the aU 
legiance of those who might abandon the 
opposite standard; to command all the mi- 
litary for the king; to take from the public 
chests all necessary treasure for the royal 
service; to appoint all officers both civil 
and military : these powers to continue in 
force until the arrival ofthe king, or of his 
brother Charles Philip (Monsieur) who had 
been a})pointed lieutenant general of the 
kingdom. 

The duke of Angouleme proceeded to 
Bordeaux, and assured the people of France 
that they were delivered from tyrants, 
wars, conscriptions, and vexatious in> 



120 

posts ; and the whole of the department of 
La Landes declared for Louis XYIII. 

In the mean time the shattered army of 
Soult continued to retreat before Welling- 
ton, who, having collected his detachments, 
on the 18th of March, pushed the French 
with some loss to Yic Bagourey and Tarbes. 
On the 20th Soult made a show of giving 
battle at Tarbes, but, on the approach of the 
allies, retreated skirmishing. On the 24th 
the French army had reached Toulouse. 

No event of importance took place in the 
south of France until after the momentous 
transactions at Paris, which decided the fate 
of Europe ; yet, that we may not turn again 
to the inferior parts of our story, we will 
here notice some unfortunate occurrences 
in which the waste of human life was even 
more than usually to be regretted, as un- 
necessary, and without accomplishing any 
desirable purpose. On the 10th of April 
Lord Wellington, not having heard of the 
cessation of hostilities agreed upon at Paris, 
attacked the positions of Marshal Soult at 
Toulouse ; the French joined battle, and a 
contest succeeded, which was as sanguina- 




t-njecaEiT 



121 



ry as it was useless. After various attacks 
^nd repulses, the French were driven from 
their positions, and evacuated Toulouse, 
after sustaining a loss of six generals and a 
great number of men, killed or wounded. 
On the J 3th Sir John Hope, who command- 
ed the besiegers of Bayonne, having receiv- 
ed intimation of the transactions at Paris, 
sent a flag communicating the intelligence 
to the French commander, who, paying no 
attention to this message, made a sortie 
very unexpectedly upon the English, killed 
and wounded a great number of men, with 
two generals, and among other prisoners 
took the English commander. Sir John 
Hope. 

Having taken this cursory view of the 
more distant and less important events, we 
return to the momentous transactions which 
were passing at and near Paris. 

After the battle of the 30th of March, un- 
der the walls of Paris, it was agreed that 
the French, under the command of Joseph 
Bonaparte, should evacuate the city on the 
morning of the 31st, and the allied sove- 
leigns take possession, with their armies, 
11 



122 

6f the capital of France. The capitulation 
Consisted of eight articles, by which it was 
provided, that the troops of the line should 
leave the city with all the appurtenances of 
their corps d*armee at seven o'clock in the 
morning; that hostilities should not re- 
commence until two hours after; that all 
arsenals, &c. &c. should be left as before 
the capitulation was proposed ; that the 
national guards should be separated from 
the troops of the line, and disarmed or dis- 
banded at the pleasure of the allies; and 
the city was recommended to the gene- 
rosity of the allies. 

On the 31st the emperor of Russia and 
king of Prussia, at the head of their troops, 
(for on such occasions all emperors and 
kings head their troops,) entered the city of 
Paris, and were received with acclamations. 
The white cockade was displayed by some 
of the Parisians, and the cry of **Vive 
Louis XVIIL" was heard and encouraged. 
The national guard in their uniforms, and 
armed, cleared avenues for the troops of the 
allies to pass, while the people hailed the 
entrance of an invading and conquering 



123 

army as a blessing, and the lower order of 
the populace amused themselves by placing 
a rope round the neck of the statue of 
Napoleon, shouting *' a bas le tyian." 

The emperor of iiussia went immediate- 
ly to the hotel of Talleyrand, and in the 
afternoon of the same day published a 
declaration, stating that the object of the 
allies was to restrain the ambition of Bo- 
naparte, and that as soon as France, by 
changing her government, shall give as- 
surance of peace, the allies are ready 
to treat on terms favourable to her; 
that they will treat no more with Na- 
poleon Bonaparte or any of his fami- 
ly ; that they respect the integrity of 
ancient France, and because they think, 
that for the happiness of Europe France 
ought to be great and strong, they are 
even willing to add to her ancient power; 
that they will recognise and guaranty the 
constitution which the French nation shall 
give itself, and invite the senate to appoint 
a provisional government, and prepare 
such a constitution as may be adopted by 
fhe French people. On the first of Aprils 



124 

the emperor of Russia nominaled Gene- 
ral Sachen as governor of Paris, and the 
same day the provisional government was 
organized, consisting of Talleyrand, Prince 
of Benevente, the Duke D'Alberg, Gene- 
ral Count de Bournonville, Francoise de 
Faucourt, and the Abbe Montesquieu, 
Oneof Iheir first acts was to order every 
obstacle to be removed which opposed thle 
journey of the pope, the courageous head 
of the churclt, to his own territories ; and to 
order that Prince Carlos of Spain, Ferdi- 
nand's brother, should be conducted with 
all honours to the first Spanish post. 

A decree for the dethronement of Bo- 
naparte was brought forward in the con- 
servative senate on the 2d of April, which, 
after revision, was on the 3d adopted. It 
declares, that in a constitutional monar- 
chy the monarch exists only in virtue of 
the constitution, or social compact; that 
Napoleon Bonaparte, during a period of 
firm and prudent government, gave reason 
to expect further acts of wisdom and jus- 
tice, but afterwards violated the compact 
which united hitn to the people, by levy- 



125 

in^' imposts and taxes contrary to law, and 
the oath which he had taken ; that he had 
adjourned the legislative body without 
necessity ; suppressed a criminal report of 
that body, and disputed its title and share 
in the national representation ; that he 
undertook a series of wars in violation of 
Art. 50 of the constitution of the 22d Fri- 
maire, year 8, which purports, that decla- 
rations of war should be proposed, debated, 
decreed, and promulgated in the same man- 
ner as laws; that he had unconstitutional- 
ly issued decrees of death ; that he had 
violated the commercial laws; that he had 
annulled the responsibility of ministers, 
confounded authorities, and destroyed the 
independence of judicial bodies; that he 
had violated the liberty of the press; that 
lie had, in the publication, altered acts and 
reports heard by the senate ; that instead 
of reigning according to his oalh, for the 
happiness of the people, he had completed 
the misfortunes of his country, by refusijig 
to treat for peace on conditions which the 
national interests required him to accept; 
that he had abused the means enh'i]?(ed to 



126 

bill! in men and money ; that lie had aban- 
doned the woimded without dressing, as- 
sistance, or subsistence ; that he had ruined 
the towns, depopulated the country, and 
introduced famine and contagion ; that for 
all these causes the imperial government, 
established 28th Floreal, year 12, had 
ceased to exist, and that to accomplish the 
wish of France, the restoration of peace, 
and a reconciliation with Europe, the senate 
declares and decrees, 1st, That Napoleon 
Bonaparte has forfeited the throne ; and 
the hereditary goFernment established in 
his family is abolished. 

2d. The French people and the army 
are absolved from their oath of fidelity to- 
wards INapoleon Bonaparte. 

3d. The present decree shall be trans- 
mitted by a message to the provisional go- 
vernment of France, conveyed forthwith 
io all the departments and the armies, and 
immediately be proclaimed in all the quar- 
ters of the capital. 

A similar resolution was the same day 
adopted by the legislative body. 

Prince Schwartzenberg lost no time in 



127 

communicating to the marshal duke of Ra- 
gusa the events which had taken place, 
giving him an invitation, as from the pro- 
visional government, to join the cause of 
the c ountry with the troops under his com- 
mand. The Prcncli marshal accepted the 
invitation, saying, that the army and peo- 
ple having been absolved from their oath 
of allegiance, by the decree of the senate, 
he, to prevent civil war, will quit Napoleon 
on the following conditions : That all 
French troops, quitting the banners of 
Napoleon, shall be free to retire to Nor- 
mandy with their arms, baggage, and am- 
munition, and with military honours from 
the allies; that if, in consequence of this 
movement, the person of Napoleon should 
fall into the hands of the allies, his life 
should be guarantied to him, and his libeiv 
ty in a circumscribed space of territory. 

I'hese terms were acceded to by the al- 
lies, and the army of the duke of Ragusa 
marched through the allied armies to Ver- 
sailles, with every demonstration of respect 
on the part of the conquerors of France. 
- On the 5th of April an address dat^il 



128 

Corbeil, and signed General Lucotte, was 
promulgated to the French army, saying, 
that the Emperor Napoleon has announced 
that he being considered as the only obsta- 
cle to the peace of Europe, he is ready to 
renounce the throne, or life itself, for the 
welfare of France; that he demands the 
succession to the throne for his son and 
empress; that the answer of the " first 
bodies of the state" is awaited, and that 
the allies appeared to protect the free ex- 
pression of the wish of those bodies; that 
in the mean time a truce is established. 

On the same day Marshal Ney addressed 
a letter to Talleyrand, president of the pro- 
visional government, saying, that he (Ney) 
and the dukes of Tarentum and Vicenza 
had repaired to Paris on the 4th, charged 
to defend, before the emperor of Russia, 
the interest of Bonaparte's dynasty. That 
an unforeseen event put a stop to the ne- 
gotiations, and that, foreseeing the evils 
of civil war, if the cause of the Bour- 
bons was not promptly embraced, he 
had repaired to the emperor, and made 
known the wishes of the French people; 




\L If. 




129 

that llie emperor had consented to "ail 
entire and unrestricted abdication." 

On the 6tli of April appeared a decla- 
ration of the emperor of Russia, stating, 
that as continual applications were making 
to him, by individuals, relative to personal 
interests, he, " having come to France to 
concur in the establishment of peace, and 
to promote the happiness of the coun- 
try," will exercise no influence over the 
F ench constituted authorities relative to 
the execution of the laws; therefore, all 
persons are referred to those authorities. 

On the same day the provisional govern- 
ment published an address to the people, 
wherein, after expatiating upon the evils 
brought upon the country by Bonaparte, 
they declare the change in the govern- 
ment, and invite France to be happy ; and 
the conservative senate decreed, that the 
French government is monarchical and 
hereditary ; that the people call to the 
throne Louis Stanislaus Xavier; that the 
ancient nobility resume their titles, the 
new preserve their's hereditarily, and the 
legion of honour be maintained ; that the 



130 

executive power is in the king; that the 
king, senate, and le^islalive body make the 
laws: laws may originate in the senate or 
legislative body, but those relative to con- 
tribution must originate with the latter; 
the king's sanction necessary to a law ; that 
the senate shall consist of at least 1 50, at 
most 200, their dignity hereditary, the pre- 
sent senators to remain such, and the re* 
mainder of the number to be named by the 
king; a senator must be twenty-(»ne years 
of age, and all princes of the blood are 
by right senators; that the deputies to the 
legislative body, as they were when last 
adjourned, shall continue until replaced 
by a new election, to take place in 1S16; 
they shall assemble by right on the 1st of 
October of ^ach year; the king may con- 
voke extraordinary sessions of the legis- 
lative body, may adjourn it, may dissolve 
it, but in the latter case, another must be 
formed in at least three months ; that no 
member of the senate or legislative body 
can be arrested but by authority from the 
body to which he belongs ; the trial of a 
member of either body belongs to the 



131 

senate; that equality of taxation is a right, 
and taxes can (»nly be imposed by free con- 
sent of the senate and legislative body ; 
that the mode of recruiting the army shall 
be fixed by law ; that the independence of 
the judiciary is oruarantied, the institution 
of juries preserved, and the publicity of 
criminal trials; that the military in ser- 
vice, or on half pay, preserve their ranks 
and emoluments ; that the person of the 
king is sacred and inviolable ; the minis- 
ters responsible for violations of the laws 
by public acts, which they must sign ; that 
freedom of conscience and worship is gua- 
rantied ; that the liberty of the press is 
entire, with the exception of legal re- 
pression of alnises resulting therefrom; 
that the public debt is guarantied, and the 
sales of national domains irrevocably main- 
tained ; that no Frenchman shall be prose- 
cuted for opinions or votes \Vhich he has 
given, and all are equally admissible to 
civil and military employments; that the 
existing laws remain in force till legally 
repealed ; that the present constitution shall 
be submitted to the acceptance of the 



132 

French people. " Louis Stanislaus Xavier 
shall be proclaimed king of the French as 
soon as he shall have signed and sworn, by 
an act stating, 1 accept the constitution ; J 
swear to observe it, a%d cause it to be ob- 
served." 

Such is the outline of the constitution, 
which, with the approbation, as it must 
appear, of the emperor of Russia and his 
allies, the French conservative senate de- 
creed; and Monsieur, the brother and 
lieutenant of Louis, having entered Paris 
on the 13th of April, was next day visited 
by the senate and legislative body ; and 
they, by a decree, committed the provision- 
al government to him, until "Louis Stanis- 
laus Xavier shall have accepted the consti- 
tutional charter." His royal highness as- 
sured these visiters that he had made 
himself acquainted with the constitutional 
act which recalls his brother to the throne 
of Frai^ce, and though he has not received 
power to accept the constitution, he from 
his knowledge of his brother assures them, 
in his name, that he will admit the basis of 
it. He then repeats the material points in 



133 

the Constitution, and concludes with thanks 
in his brother's name for what they had 
done. 

Happy would it have been if virtue 
enough had been found in the rulers and 
people of France to maintain a form of 
government even so good as this. They 
would then have had the best government 
in Europe, and been repaid for the long se- 
ries of war and wo which they have expe- 
rienced. The limits of the present work 
will not permit to the writer the useful task 
ofcomparing this constitution with the En- 
glish or other constitutions, or of pointing 
out what he considers its excellencies or 
defects. 

On the 15th of April the emperor of 
Austria made his entrance into Paris, ac- 
companied by the Crown Prince Berna- 
dotte ; and Monsieur received the empe- 
rors of Russia and Austria, with the sove- 
reigns of Prussia and Sweden, and accom- 
panied them to a review of the allied 
troops. 

We have seen that Bonaparte, who had 
in several negotiations at different points 
12 



13:4 

of time been driven to lower his demands, 
had not yet lowered them as rapidly as his 
falling fortunes demanded ; and had final- 
ly been obliged to abdicate the throne. 
No other conditions were granted to him 
than a pension, and the petty sovereign- 
ty of the little island of Elba. 

To this place of banishment he was sent 
under the escort of commissioners, in an 
English frigate. Such was the end of Bo- 
naparte's campaign against Russia. On 
the 2(>th of April he left Fontainbleau, the 
scene of his humiliation, and embarked on 
the 28th at St. Rapheu, near Frejus, for 
Elba, where he safely arrived, and took 
possession of the island on the 4th of May. 

We will now conclude this brief narra- 
tive of the most stupendous events ever wit- 
nessed, by noticing the fate of the constitu- 
tion, decreed by the French senate, and the 
definitive treaty of peace, which has fixed 
for a lime the tranquillity and the balance 
of power of Europe. 

Louis Stanislaus Xavier, having arrived 
in France, and being received with every 
demonstration of joy by the people and 



13^ 

the military, who acknowledged liim as 
the legitimate king, notwithstanding that 
he had not accepted, signed, or sworn to 
support the constitution, feeling himself 
independent of a conquered people, and 
only accountable to the victorious allies, 
who had reinstated him, assumed, on the 
2d of May, the kingl.y style, and declared, 
that he was king of France and Navarre, 
by the grace of God, and recalled to the 
throne of his fathers by his people; that 
after reading with attention the plan of a 
constitution proposed by the senate, he had 
found the basis good, but that a great num- 
ber of articles, owing to precipitation in 
drawing them up, cannot become funda- 
mental laws of the state; that he will eon- 
voke the senate and legislative body, and 
lay before them, on the 10th of June, the 
result of his labours. He, however, gives 
them the following assurances, that the 
representative government shall be main- 
tained, divided into a senate and a house 
composed of deputies of departments; the 
taxes shall be freely imposed ; public and 
private liberty ensured; the liberty of the 



136 

press respected, with precautions necessa- 
ry to public tranquillity; the freedom of 
worship guarantied ; property shall be sa- 
cred and inviolable; the sales of the na- 
tional domains remain irrevocable; the 
ministers responsible, may be prosecuted 
by one of the legislative houses, and tried 
by the other; the judges irremovable, and 
the judicial power independent ; the pub- 
lic debt shall be guarantied; pensions, 
honours, military rank, preserved; the 
legion of honour maintained, with a deco- 
ration determined by the king; every 
Frenchman shall be admitted to civil and 
military employments, and no individual 
disturbed for his former opinions and 
votes. 

On the 4th of June the king presented 
to the French people a constitution, as he 
had promised them, at the same time de- 
claring that all authority resides in the per- 
son of the king, but that he graciously 
releases to the people certain portions of 
liberty, as specified in this grant. This 
constitution is founded upon the above- 
mentioned declaration of Louis, when he 



137 

rejected that decreed by the senate ; but 
retains all essential power in his own hands; 
the Romish religion is declared the religion 
of the state, and the ministers of that and 
all other modes of christian worship are to 
be paid from the royal treasury alone j the 
king commands the land and sea forces, de- 
clares war, makes treaties of all kinds, ap- 
points to all employments of public ad- 
ministration ; the legislative power is ex- 
ercised collectively by the king, the house 
of peers, and the house of deputies of 
departments, but the king proposes all laws ; 
the king alone sanctions and promulgates 
all laws; the number of the house of peers 
is unlimited, and they are made by the 
king, or " the king creates nobles at will ;" 
the king's ministers may be members of 
either house; the king appoints judges; 
in fact, the power retained by the king 
must render nugatory the liberty he is 
graciously pleased to grant to his people. 

Thus we see the people of France, 

who had shaken off the enormous abuses 

of a kingly government, which, whether 

administered by a wise man or a fool, by 

12* 



138 

an ambitious hero, an unblushing de- 
bauchee, or a well-meaning driveller, was 
almost equally intolerable; and who had 
been forced into war by the interference 
of foreign nations in their internal regula- 
tions; who had conquered every people of 
Europe to whose territory their armies 
could approach, while they themselves suf- 
ered all the miseries of bad experimental 
government in every form, from that of a 
mob to that of a despot ; who had at last 
elected one man to reign over them under 
the shadow of a representative govern- 
ment, and the remains of the form of a re- 
public, with the reality of a despot ; now 
submitted to an almost unqualified monar- 
chy, receiving a king on such terms as his 
will, and the will of their conquerors, shall 
dictate. 

We will now take a view of such parts 
of the definitive treaty of peace as bear 
upon the great question of the adjustment 
of the balance of European power. 

The limits of France are settled as they 
were at the epoch of January, 1792, with 
some additions in drawing the line of de- 



139 

markation between her and her neighbours ; 
the republic of Geneva shall form a part 
of the confederation of Switzerland, and 
is assured the use of the route by Yersoi, 
to facilitate communication with other 
parts of the confederation ; the navi^^ation 
upon the Rhine shall be free; duties which 
may be levied by states bounding on the 
river to be regulated by a congress ; Hol- 
land, placed under the sovereignty of the 
house of Orange, shall receive an increase 
of territory, and its prince is prohibited 
from wearing a foreign crown ; the states 
of Germany shall be independent, and 
united by a federative league; Switzer- 
land shall be independent; Italy, except 
the parts given to Austria, shall be com- 
posed of sovereign states; Malta shall 
belong to Great Britain, who engages to 
restore to France "the colonies, fisheries, 
factories, and establishments of every 
kind which France possessed in Janua- 
ry, 1792, excepting Tobago, St. Lucia, 
the Isle of France and its dependencies, 
which France cedes to England ; France 
likewise cedes to Spain the part of St. 



140 

Domingo which became hers by the peace 
of Basle. The king of Sweden and Nor- 
way cedes Guadaloupe to France; En- 
gland agrees to allow to the French all the 
facilities of the most favoured nations in 
their trade with British India; and France 
agrees not to fortify or hold troops in the 
places restored to her by England, within 
the limits of the English sovereignty on 
the continent of India ; the right of France 
to the fisheries remains as in 1792; two 
thirds of the vessels of war, armed or not 
armed, and the naval artillery and ammuni- 
tion, which are within the bounds of the 
places restored by France, shall belong to 
France, and one third to the country so 
restored ; from this stipulation the vessels 
and arsenals of Holland are excepted, " and 
especially the fleet of the Texel." There 
is no notice of Poland, no longer a nation; 
Warsaw remains with Russia; the states 
mentioned " as returning to Austria" are 
Venice and its dependencies, with Mantua 
and Peschiera. 

Thus it has pleased the great rulers of 
Europe to adjust what is called the balance 



141 

of power, and it is not to be doubted but 
they will watch with a jealous eye over 
the distribution they have made. To se- 
cure that peace to the world which is every 
good man's wish, there appears wanting 
some adjustment of the maritime rights of 
nations, and a free commercial intercourse, 
leaving the seas equally open to, as they 
are equally the property of, all mankind, 

New-York, November, 1814. 



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